Mackinnon or Matthews

[Dynamite Time]

MacKinnon would be my pick.

 

[Perratrooper]

This is Matthews not close.

Not sure what you’re defining as current play MacKinnon has been more dominate on the year which is what I was referring to. If you’d like to break it down further to more current: both have 11 points in there last 10 games, Matthews has 7 points in his last 5 games MacKinnon has 6, both have 4 points in there last three games (Matthews all came in one game), In the last game (very current) Matthews has 0 points MacKinnon two. Yes you can say I’m just stat watching, but if current play is “not close” Matthews should be leaps and bounds ahead.

 

[JuneauRiley05]

Matthews easily

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Leafs fans love to bring up the distant past when comparing these two players.

Personally I see Mack driving play a lot more than Matthews does right now. Matthews half drives with Marner and MacKinnon has not played with a Marner level player for any consistent amount of time this year. Rantanen has only just recently started to get back to his pre-injury form and has not really done much to help MacK, or hasn't even been on the line. Lots of Donskoi and Calvert.

Matthews also injury prone so that's a risk every season he might bump his shoulder and miss 15 games. Plus he's completely awful defensively, actually worse than MacKinnon, who is a below average defender himself. And then the matter of their contracts. Mack's is awesome and Matthews' is... not. Matthews is a high quality player though for sure, I hope to see him break 50g and play 82 so that he can start kicking that injury prone label.

 

[chethejet]

MacKinnon is the most talented all around player in Hockey. His speed, size and scoring ability is what separates him from all the others. All the others have a weakness that just will be there but no one in Hockey pressures any D man like him. He can go around or through you.

 

[Perratrooper]

A lot of people letting flashiness/speed and PP time affect their perception.

Since 2017-2018:

ES P/60

Matthews: 2.92
Mackinnon: 2.99

ES P1/60

Matthews: 2.45
Mackinnon: 2.38

PP P/60

Matthews: 6.63
Mackinnon: 6.91

PP P1/60

Matthews: 5.03
Mackinnon: 4.95

Extremely close, and Mackinnon has had a very impressive year this year. Mackinnon has a slight edge in point production, and Matthews has a slight edge in primary point production, but both are fairly even. Considering Matthews' worse linemates over that sample, their ages that that sample covers, the fact that Matthews was inexplicably 2nd unit PP for 1 of those years, and Matthews' superior goal-scoring ability, I would definitely take Matthews going forward, though I can see the argument for Mackinnon if just for this year.

I think it might be two consecutive 97 to 99 point seasons versus 63 to 69 point seasons that are the main reason for this perspective. Health matters more than projections.

 

[bobholly39]

I'm really interested seeing their stats when they're playing on February 29th

Matthews by an even bigger stretch.

In 2016 Mackinnon was too chicken to schedule himself a game on feb 29th. Advantage Matthews

Both have games this year on Feb 29th. Mack is playing Nashville - against whom he's a career -9. Thats really bad. Even Lucic is only a career -2 vs Nashville. I expect the suckage to continue.

Matthews is playing Canucks. Career +5. Much better. For comparison's sake, Crosby is a career -9 vs Canucks. That makes Matthess play beyond generational, in contrast

 

[lebdafor norris]

Why not both?

I like the way you think, but MacK still has 3 seasons after these one before he can come back hom..... err closer to his home.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Mackinnon established himself as the clear 2nd best player in the league this year.


Especially when he carried the Avs forward group while Rantanen and Landeskog were hurt. Some questions were always lingering around whether he could keep playing like this without having those two as his wingers and forming a true powerhouse line...


Then he went and played to a 130 point pace over the 16 games that Gabe and Mikko were out of the lineup. In fact it's to ththe point now where some Avs fans believe we are better off keeping Mack with the likes of Donskoi/Burakovsky/whoever because Mack actually plays better and Rantanen is capable of driving his own line as well.


He's taken his game to an entirely new level this year. Pacing for 115+ points and miles ahead of anyone else in Denver.

 

[Rico Suave]

Only Mcdavid is better then Mackinnon

 

[Jimbo57]

MacK
Hes the closest player to McDavid (in terms of skill/impact/talent)

 

[tony d]

MacKinnon for me.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm more scared of MacKinnon than any other player in the league

 

[bobholly39]

Mackinnon established himself as the clear 2nd best player in the league this year.


Especially when he carried the Avs forward group while Rantanen and Landeskog were hurt. Some questions were always lingering around whether he could keep playing like this without having those two as his wingers and forming a true powerhouse line...


Then he went and played to a 130 point pace over the 16 games that Gabe and Mikko were out of the lineup. In fact it's to ththe point now where some Avs fans believe we are better off keeping Mack with the likes of Donskoi/Burakovsky/whoever because Mack actually plays better and Rantanen is capable of driving his own line as well.


He's taken his game to an entirely new level this year. Pacing for 115+ points and miles ahead of anyone else in Denver.

Mackinnon is great - but i disagree very strongly with the bolded. You could certainly say that he's in contention for the 2nd best player in the league - but established himself clearly, that's a big stretch imo.

A player last year scored 128 points. A different player this year is pacing for ~130 points - not over a 16 game stretch, but over the full season of 56 games so far. Mack has yet to top 100 points in a season. Sidney Crosby still exists too.

I think McDavid deserves the rank of #1 (I assume that's who you meant) - and Mack is certainly among names in contention for #2, but i definitely wouldn't say he's a clear #2 yet.

 

[Lahey]

Leafs fans love to bring up the distant past when comparing these two players.

Personally I see Mack driving play a lot more than Matthews does right now. Matthews half drives with Marner and MacKinnon has not played with a Marner level player for any consistent amount of time this year. Rantanen has only just recently started to get back to his pre-injury form and has not really done much to help MacK, or hasn't even been on the line. Lots of Donskoi and Calvert.

Matthews also injury prone so that's a risk every season he might bump his shoulder and miss 15 games. Plus he's completely awful defensively, actually worse than MacKinnon, who is a below average defender himself. And then the matter of their contracts. Mack's is awesome and Matthews' is... not. Matthews is a high quality player though for sure, I hope to see him break 50g and play 82 so that he can start kicking that injury prone label.

So ignorant. I will be the first to say MacK is better right now tho.

Is it not fair to compare them at the same ages? Matthews first four seasons absolutely blows MacK's out of the water. MacK is clearly the better player right now, but Matthews is younger and his body of work at the same ages is much better. Will he be the player MacK is now? Not sure.

Matthews is injury prone? Well I guess MacK is too because hes missed pretty much the same amount of games. MacK has played 82 games in 3 of 6 seasons prior to this one. Even missing time for shoulder injuries.. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

And Matthews is awful defensively? You are so misinformed its hilarious, bias is clearly showing. Is this based on a 10 second shift you watched 1 game? Currently Matthews is third in the ENTIRE LEAGUE in takeaways.. even ahead of a defensive player such as ROR.. Matthews has 63 takeaways and 33 giveaways , MacK has 29 takeaways and 44 giveaways.. Yet Mac is clearly the better defensive player right?

On to the contact. Title from NHL.com:
Nathan MacKinnon signs 7-year contract with Avalanche

Forward had 21 goals, 31 assists for Colorado last season

Mack signed his deal coming one of the worst years of his career. 52 points in 72 games, and then followed it up with 53 in 82 games.. So much production. Matthews signed his after 73 points in 68 games while scoring 37 goals (on pace for around 45). Not to mention Matthews had been over 1 PPG (and still is) career wise, and has never scored lower than 34 goals in a season. Mac's career high before signing that deal was 24 goals.. Goals are paid at a premium in this league. If you dont understand the difference in contract scenarios... then lol.

SO much wrong with your post its hilarious.

Thanks for coming out.

 

[BostonBruins11]

I'm hear just for the cherry picked P/60 or G/60 stats.

 

[The Abusement Park]

good one

I'm saying that there is a clear seperation between the two, but it's not a big one?

 

[Lahey]

I'm hear just for the cherry picked P/60 or G/60 states.

Nah. Mack is the better player right now for sure. Post I addressed was to address clear bias and misconception in regards to Matthews. Only argument in Matthews favor is he has clearly been better at the same ages as Mack

 

[Ncit3]

So what I see here is everyone outside of Toronto fans voting for MacKinnon. Within the Toronto fanbase there are heavy homers and then regular fans. The regular fans argument is that Matthews still has time to prove he can play on the level of MacKinnon and then the other half never watch anything but Leafs hockey and live in an echo chamber.

I think this thread has achieved it's purpose.

So just for posterity I'll leave this here.

 

[Lahey]

I think it might be two consecutive 97 to 99 point seasons versus 63 to 69 point seasons that are the main reason for this perspective. Health matters more than projections.

And so many people forget about Mac's injuries... only played 82 in 3/6 seasons before this. But Mac is definitely the better player right now and ill be the first one to say that every time.

 

[The Hound]

MacK, without question lol.

 

[Kamiccolo]

People don't watch Matthews and it's clear. The narrative that he is a shot and nothing else is laughable to the point it proves people do not watch him.

His game overall has grown so much this year. Defensively he has been a beast. He won't win a Selke because he doesn't PK but he is 2nd in take aways and all underlying defensive stats are amazing.

He plays primarily with playmakers, so his assist totals will always be lower than if he had another goal scorer on his line. And people like to use the team mates argument against him but ignore Colorado has Rantanen (who was better than Marner on here last summer), and their team is right up there with goals for. They play the same run and gun style as the Leafs.

Only difference is Matthews is younger and has blown out every year of Mack's career so far, except this one where is going to roughly tie in points while having more goals.

The answer is Mack only due to his steal of a contract, but as raw players, anyone saying it's not close is out to lunch.

 

[Perratrooper]

And so many people forget about Mac's injuries... only played 82 in 3/6 seasons before this. But Mac is definitely the better player right now and ill be the first one to say that every time.

He's only missed 8 games in his last 4 seasons versus 34 for AM34. MacK hasn't missed significant time since his second season. Both are stellar players who are really fun to watch.

 

[NextYear67]

Mack if i had a game tonight. Matthews for future

 

[Frank Drebin]

After carefully considering p/60 numbers, its Mackinnon.