MacKinnon vs Makar

[TheRarestDangles]

Simple: who would you rather have on your team/who is better? I've heard many Avs fans say that Makar has overtaken Mack as our 'best player' but I want to hear what everyone else here thinks.

Also, please don't talk about Adam Fox in this thread if you can avoid it. Thank you.

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[Filthy Dangles]

Lauren Gardner >>> both

 

[BKarchitect]

Besides the oblivious positional difference, there are contracts to consider. Makar is signed longer term of course but a team for a team near the cap, adding a top 3 superstar center for $6.3 million for the rest of this year and next is absolutely a bargain.

I’m not ready to declare Makar definitively“better” than MacK. MacK has struggled initially on return from injury this season and yet is 6th in the NHL in PPG. Once his shooting percentage normalizes (at 5% right now compared to 25% for Leon and 16-17% for guys like Kadri, MaxPac and McD), he’ll be right back towards the top of the scoring heap.

 

[TheRarestDangles]

Lauren Gardner >>> both

Who's that again?

 

[TheRarestDangles]

Besides the oblivious positional difference, there are contracts to consider. Makar is signed longer term of course but a team for a team near the cap, adding a top 3 superstar center for $6.3 million for the rest of this year and next is absolutely a bargain.

I’m not ready to declare Makar “better” than MacK. MacK struggled initially on return from injury this season and yet is 6th in the NHL in PPG. Once his shooting percentage normalizes (at 5% right now compared to 25% for Leon and 16-17% for guys like Kadri, MaxPac and McD), he’ll be right back towards the top of the scoring heap.

I should have mentioned this but contracts won't factor in the decision. It's based purely upon who is better/more valuable.

 

[BKarchitect]

I should have mentioned this but contracts won't factor in the decision. It's based purely upon who is better/more valuable.

Mmmkay, your poll

I do think contracts are an interesting wrinkle though…

My gut tells me Makar is going to win this by a significant margin because he’s “so hot” right now and the HFB motto tends to be “younger = better” and MacK has had a slow (by his standards…1.40 PPG while shooting 5% and admittedly not looking in peak form…is almost more testament to how good he usually is).

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Its hard to compare dmen to forwards but I'm confident enough in Makar at this point to say him

Makar is a higher ranked dman than Mackinnon is a forward

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Makar and I’m an Avalanche fan.

 

[BKarchitect]

Makar is a higher ranked dman than Mackinnon is a forward

I mean…maybe…it’s pretty close though. MacK is usually between 2 and 4 for forwards…Makar similar among defenders. If you personally have MacK as the 4th best forward and Makar as the 2nd best defenseman, aren’t we kind of splitting hairs?

I guess the argument can be made that Makar is a lot closer to #1 than MacK can be at their respective positions because of the presence of McDavid and that Makar is more likely to at some point have a legit claim to #1 at their respective positions.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

I mean…maybe…it’s pretty close though. MacK is usually between 2 and 4 for forwards…Makar similar among defenders. If you personally have MacK as the 4th best forward and Makar as the 2nd best defenseman, aren’t we kind of splitting hairs?

I guess the argument can be made that Makar is a lot closer to #1 than MacK can be at their respective positions because of the presence of McDavid and that Makar is more likely to at some point have a legit claim to #1 at their respective positions.

I think Makar has a quite strong argument for #1dman in the league, and it will only grow stronger over the next few years.
I don't think Mackinnon has any argument for best forward in the league and I don't see that changing.

So yes kinda splitting hairs but we kinda have to when we're choosing between players of this caliber that are very comparable in talent

 

[Kcb12345]

I think if you took them and put them on a different team, MacKinnon would probably have more success. Both are perfect fits right where they are tho so imo this poll is almost too close to call. Would've voted for that option

 

[John Johnson]

Cake Maker

 

[Haatley]

Besides the oblivious positional difference, there are contracts to consider. Makar is signed longer term of course but a team for a team near the cap, adding a top 3 superstar center for $6.3 million for the rest of this year and next is absolutely a bargain.

I’m not ready to declare Makar definitively“better” than MacK. MacK has struggled initially on return from injury this season and yet is 6th in the NHL in PPG. Once his shooting percentage normalizes (at 5% right now compared to 25% for Leon and 16-17% for guys like Kadri, MaxPac and McD), he’ll be right back towards the top of the scoring heap.

Contracts have nothing to do with who is better.

 

[BKarchitect]

Contracts have nothing to do with who is better.

Thanks for the enlightening Ted Talk on the meaning of better. Here's the first line of the poll:

Simple: who would you rather have on your team/who is better?

Seems to leave it up to us what the actual question is until the OP gives further explanation after my post.

 

[NyQuil]

Those are actually two questions.

Who is better?

Who would you rather have on your team?

I think it’s MacKinnon/MacKinnon but I could see a team like the Leafs going with Makar.

It’s close either way with Makar earning the recency bias.

 

[TheRarestDangles]

Those are actually two questions.

Who is better?

Who would you rather have on your team?

I think it’s MacKinnon/MacKinnon but I could see a team like the Leafs going with Makar.

It’s close either way with Makar earning the recency bias.

It's kind of like drafting though--usually you draft by BPA, not by positional need (i.e. if you think Makar is better, then you would probably still rather have him on your team, even if your team is thin at forward).

 

[95snipes]

Listen I love Makar and he is definitely the 'cool' vote. Makar has been better than MacKinnon this year, there is no question about that.

But if it's game 7 and we're down a goal with a minute left, I want the puck on 29's stick.

I think Makar has a quite strong argument for #1dman in the league, and it will only grow stronger over the next few years.
I don't think Mackinnon has any argument for best forward in the league and I don't see that changing.

So yes kinda splitting hairs but we kinda have to when we're choosing between players of this caliber that are very comparable in talent

I will argue at length that Makar is the best defenseman in the league. That is irrelevant though for this comparison since Makar is not better than McDavid either.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Simple: who would you rather have on your team/who is better?

From the OP

These are 2 very different questions.

For the Leafs, Makar.

Who's currently better, MacKinnon

 

[Spilot23]

Makar for me too.

 

[RedWingzz]

I mean, the Avs fans are saying Makar, so hard to dispute that. Guess that shows you how good Makar is, because Mackinnon is filthy.

 

[Spilot23]

I mean, the Avs fans are saying Makar, so hard to dispute that. Guess that shows you how good Makar is, because Mackinnon is filthy.

So far we haven't seen the Mack we've used to. That's probably why Avs fans are picking Makar here while also playing way better when Mack is out. Creating more chances and shooting the puck more. Defensively breaking plays he's damn good at it but what he needs to improve is zone coverage.

 

[avsfan9]

If I had to choose 1 I’d take Makar. Best d man I’ve seen since Ray Bourque. But I’m glad I don’t have to choose.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Makar. I think a lot are getting MacKinnon fatigue. Very talented player, but hasn’t put up many accolades in his career. At some point, you have to produce in the accolades columns in your career. Makar is no worse than the second best defenseman in the league.

 

[LaMasquerade]

Interesting how close this is. Couple of seasons ago MacKinnon was often considered to be the 2nd best player after McDavid.

 

[Freudian]

MacKinnon is more of an athletic freak but Makar definitely has higher hockey IQ.

That said, even when MacKinnon is having an underwhelming start of the year he has 21 points in 15 games so he's a very steady producer of points. But the underwhelming start might tilt this poll as well since it's easy to forget how dominant he can be when playing well.