Mcdavid, Ovi, or current stars in the clutch and grab era?

[PenguinSpeed]

-Wayne stats fell off a cliff in the clutch and grab era. How would todays stars do in this era, could they do this? Mcdavid doesnt have Russian Rocket speed, what would Mcdavid do?

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[PatrikBerglund]

McDavid is easily faster than Bure ever was.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

McDavid is easily faster than Bure ever was.

-Faster then this? Dont think so

 

[PatrikBerglund]

-Faster then this? Dont think so

Yes. Easily.

 

[Sky04]

Wayne was also ages 35-39 in the clutch and grab era and him.falling off is back to back 90+ point seasons at 37-38.

 

[GreeningOil]

-Faster then this? Dont think so

I believe McDavid can hit 40+ kph in game. I'd like to know how fast Bure was going

 

[SotasicA]

I think McDavid has Bure beat in pure outside speed. Bure wasn't even the fastest guy of his era. His first few strides were amazing though. Most of the time it's that explosive start that matters more anyway.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

Yes. Easily.

-No way. 2 types of speed. Top end, and acceleration. No one had faster acceleration and change of direction then the rocket

 

[The Nuge]

McDavid is probably the fastest skater of all time, and the clutch and grab era would probably help him, not hurt him. Right now, he’s one of only a couple players that people are allowed to hang off of without penalty, so it’s not going to get worse going to an era where he could do it back to others.

Ovi, it probably wouldn’t hurt either. He’s big enough to outmuscle most of the league, and he’d still be able get his shot off.

 

[SotasicA]

Wayne was also ages 35-39 in the clutch and grab era and him.falling off is back to back 90+ point seasons at 37-38.

Exactly. Imagine Crosby 5-9 years from now. He will not be the best anymore (McDavid may have caught him already). Gretzky's last years were still impressive - despite starting to look human.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

-No way. 2 types of speed. Top end, and acceleration. No one had faster acceleration and change of direction then the rocket

Yes.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Gretzky never was the same after being cross-checked viciously by Gary Suter. That event preceded the Devils ushering in the clutch and grab era.

 

[Sky04]

Exactly. Imagine Crosby 5-9 years from now. He will not be the best anymore (McDavid may have caught him already). Gretzky's last years were still impressive - despite starting to look human.

What does that have to do with anything? We all know Gretzky was better......?

 

[Turin]

The dead puck era is overrated. Overall scoring was down but most of the defensemen, bottom six players and goalies were still trash compared to now. Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin and McDavid would have a great time going against waves of Dmen who can’t skate.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

-Someone post Mcdavids best speed video with change of direction instead of straight line speed?

-Anyhow, I thought it would be a good topic since there has been so much player comparison over different eras.

-I think players would think twice in the head hunting era when guys like Scott Stevens was destroying speed players and separating their head from their body

 

[hockeykicker]

im not trying to say ovechkin is anywhere close to gretzky, mario, etc

i will say ovechkin might have broken the all time goal record if he did play in the gretzky time period

 

[SotasicA]

I don't know how the speed thing is relevant to the topic anyway. Slow guys could hang in there pretty well during the 90's. Size and strength helped more than they do now. Especially for defensive players. Nowadays you can't use your size to your advantage as much. It still helps a lot, but not quite as much as it used to.

The biggest change is how the defensemen play nowadays. The stay-at-home d-man is almost extinct now. The big strong guy who was like an impenetrable wall, but did not much else. Playing defense is difficult now, to anyone. So since by default everyone now sucks at playing defense anyway (compared to the 90's), it's the guys that can actually pinch and move the puck that are more in demand.

You may think that's silly. But, like, if you hypothetically removed the ability for d-men to score points (I don't know how, like maybe make a rule where they can't cross the red line), then offensive d-men would go extinct. Every just hangs back, and you pick the best player at hanging back and waiving their sticks at oncoming forwards. The same thing. Well, almost.

 

[Devil Dancer]

McDavid is probably the fastest skater of all time, and the clutch and grab era would probably help him, not hurt him. Right now, he’s one of only a couple players that people are allowed to hang off of without penalty, so it’s not going to get worse going to an era where he could do it back to others.

This is either satire or one of the most homer things I've ever seen on HF. And that's saying a ton.

 

[Cotton]

-No way. 2 types of speed. Top end, and acceleration. No one had faster acceleration and change of direction then the Russian rocket

Richard was The Rocket.

 

[SotasicA]

What does that have to do with anything? We all know Gretzky was better......?

I didn't mean it as an attack on Crosby. The original poster said "Gretzky's stats fell off a cliff." The point is, at some point, everyone declines. I took Crosby as an example because he is also a generational talent, but most everyone will probably agree that he will be well past his prime in 5-9 years. The proportionate dropoff in production will probably be around the same as it was for Gretzky, and not because of clutch and grab.

Even in a wide open game, Gretzky would have seriously struggled to hit those well-beyond 100pt seasons. So his 97pt,90pt and 62pt (in 70 games) seasons in New York were not only the product of the era. He was just not in his prime anymore. And I can see in 8 years time, someone is going to compare a 38-year-old Crosby to a 22-year-old super stud who outproduces him by 35pts that Crosby could not compete in that era because of the playing style, ignoring the effects of age.

TL;DR Gretzky in dead puck era was still amazing. Slow as hell, but amazing.

 

[SotasicA]

Richard was The Rocket.

But he wasn't Russian.

EDIT: nevermind, you "fixed" the quote. I see what you did there.

 

[TGWL]

Since the argument now became McDavid or Bure, the speed of overall players wasn't on par with todays. That video shows absolutely nothing when comparing the speed between McDavid and Bure, and also, who cares who was faster?

 

[PenguinSpeed]

Since the argument now became McDavid or Bure, the speed of overall players wasn't on par with todays. That video shows absolutely nothing when comparing the speed between McDavid and Bure, and also, who cares who was faster?

-Because Mcdavid is all about straight line end to end speed, and Ovi has about a rifle for a shot. They are 2 of the best players in the league, but the question was, what would they do in the clutch and grab era. Or other top players in the league in that era.

 

[The Nuge]

This is either satire or one of the most homer things I've ever seen on HF. And that's saying a ton.

Please show me one thing I said that isn’t true, let alone a homer comment. I don’t even know what you’re referring to so let me respond to all of it

McDavid is arguably the fastest skater of all time. He’s the clear fastest skater in the fastest era of hockey. This is a comment made regularly by knowledgeable hockey media, and not all that controversial.

He’s one of the couple players in the league that players are allowed to hook more. I’m not sure how anyone can watch certain stars play and dispute this claim. If Crosby/McDavid/etc got the same rulebook as everyone else, they’d be drawing penalties all day, and never leave the PP. you could call it controversial I guess, but is it a homer comment for an Edmonton fan to say Pittsburgh should get more power plays? I doubt it.

McDavid would do better if he’s allowed to hook people. He’s already very good defensively in transition because of his speed. Allowing him to hook and hold people is just going to make it harder to keep the puck away from him. Again, that shouldn’t be a very controversial statement. We know the game was more defensive in that era.

 

[daver]

-Wayne stats fell off a cliff in the clutch and grab era. How would todays stars do in this era, could they do this? Mcdavid doesnt have Russian Rocket speed, what would Mcdavid do?

If anyone has Bure's speed it's McDavid. Today's stars would do as well in the DPE as they do today (i.e. they would all be Art Ross/Rocket contenders. No reason to think otherwise.