McDavid vs Crosby stylistically

[Filthy Dangles]

How similar do you see their games at a similar age?

To me, it seems the large majority of McDavid's offense comes off the rush in transition where he turns on the speed. So far he hasn't shown me to be the dominant 'half court' offensive player Crosby was/is. Where Sid just takes over and controls the puck in the zone with unrelenting puck possession. Twisting and turning, using his edges, winning board battles to create time and space to create high quality chances in the offensive zone. I haven't really seen that out of McDavid yet. Again, from what I have seen, most of his offense comes off the rush where he winds up from his own end and uses his speed. He doesn't seem to be as dominant a player in those half court situations at 5 on 5 like Crosby is.

Also McDavid is just as good if not a better finisher and getting to the the high danger areas near the net but doesn't see to be as good of an outside shooter/sniper like Sid at this point in his career either, IMO.

I see him being closer to Malkin stylistically than Crosby. Malkin is very similar where he gallops up the ice with the puck on his stick.

Your thoughts?

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[Dakinjor]

McDavid definitely focuses on speed and going around his opponents, He isnt small or weak by any means but he cant really hemm opponents into their zone by him self on the halfboards (unless he is given space to move)

Just my two cents

 

[Soundwave]

McDavid is a more athletic/explosive type of player IMO. Sid is more deliberate and more of a cycle game player.

They don't really play alike all that much, McDavid is almost like a Russian Canadian hybrid player.

Though Sid's shot early in his career wasn't that great either, he developed it as time went on, I think McDavid will be the same.

 

[snipes]

He generates offence off the rush in a way that I think is unmatched in the NHL right now. When he gets the puck and turns it up, you can just see defenders panic. He's so explosive and he maintains puck control skating at a breathtaking pace. It's a different style than Crosby's power game down low. Here's some examples for you:



When he gets the pass he's behind Giordano and he leaves Gio in the dust (after the game Gio and Brodie called him the best player in the NHL).





Preseason against the Jets. First goal shows his ability to make defenders freeze and go "oh ****". Second goal shows the speed.





Start at 1:05, that assist he gets in 3rd on Lucic's goal gives you a glimpse of the vision on the attack.

 

[TheAntiPrice]

McDavid is pretty much Bure with less of a scoring touch and with more playmaking ability.

 

[McFlyingV]

Not comparable stylistically at all. Crosby does his offensive zone work with his insane puck protection ability, McDavid does his offensive zone work by using his acceleration and elusive edge work to slip past defenders and utilizes his line mates more. Don't think we'll ever see McDavid play the style of game that Crosby does, but he might add elements of it as he matures physically. He's gotta be close to 6'2, but still doesn't even weigh 200 pounds, so we'll see what playing weight he ends up at by his mid 20's. He still has the body of an adolescent after all. If he ends up getting up to around 205-210 then I could see him playing a bit like Crosby in the offensive zone, but I think he'll still rely heavily on the acceleration and elusive skating like he does now. He just won't be as easy to knock off the puck.

As for McDavid's shot, it still definitely needs some work, but its already better than it was last year and he's been more willing to use it for the most part.

 

[Daximus]

Crosby was always the down low guy to me. He can beat you one on one but his strength is very much in how he plays in the trenches. He's a trench warfare kinda guy. Battles along the boards, jukes and jives and uses his lower body strength to shield the puck and uses his elite vision to wait for the right play to open up. I think that why it's so hard for him to find the right wingers. They need to be patient and be really good at cycling in order to maximize Crosby's skill set. Crosby is the generational cycler. No player really plays the game like Crosby. He just battles plain and simple.

McDavid is more about pure speed, stickhandling, quick plays and making plays on the rush. A lot like Bure. That is not to say McDavid can't cycle or set up plays in the OZ just that his skill set is more about the rush then setting up. Whereas I think Crosby differs in his is better suited to setting up the cycle than on the rush, but Crosby can still score off the rush.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Mcdavid reminds me of Bure

 

[McFlyingV]

Crosby was always the down low guy to me. He can beat you one on one but his strength is very much in how he plays in the trenches. He's a trench warfare kinda guy. Battles along the boards, jukes and jives and uses his lower body strength to shield the puck and uses his elite vision to wait for the right play to open up. I think that why it's so hard for him to find the right wingers. They need to be patient and be really good at cycling in order to maximize Crosby's skill set. Crosby is the generational cycler. No player really plays the game like Crosby. He just battles plain and simple.

McDavid is more about pure speed, stickhandling, quick plays and making plays on the rush. A lot like Bure. That is not to say McDavid can't cycle or set up plays in the OZ just that his skill set is more about the rush then setting up. Whereas I think Crosby differs in his is better suited to setting up the cycle than on the rush, but Crosby can still score off the rush.

Yup they're essentially opposite players. Both are good both off the rush and in the offensive zone, but McDavid is the elite of the elite on the rush, and Crosby is the elite of the elite in the O-zone cycle.

 

[biturbo19]

Like others have suggested, i don't think they're very comparable stylistically. They dominate in very different ways.


McDavid is so dangerous because of the insane speeds he does everything at. His ability to do mindboggling things at top speed is something else, and his ability to change up his speed at the drop of a hat wreaks havoc on defensive positioning and gap control. His vision to set up plays at a hundred million miles an hour is truly unique. But it's all about pushing the pace to extremes with McDavid...right now at least.


Crosby can be an extremely dangerous player off the rush and at top speed...but more typically, he dominates by owning the puck and turning guys inside out in small areas, while being an absolute tank on the puck. His ability to generate power and acceleration in any direction at any moment from a virtual standstill with a guy draped over his back is truly special. He has an absolutely unreal ability to find the open man while doing so that makes him a constant threat to generate offense...even when you think you've got him relatively "contained" on the wall somewhere.


They're both elite skaters with elite vision, but they're still very different stylistically.

McDavid is a fighter jet streaking over the battlefield with a precision strike at Mach 2. Crosby is a tank rolling around in the muck blasting holes everywhere and blowing up your defensive coverage up close and personal.

 

[JA]

Connor McDavid's game is all about speed and the ability to overwhelm the opposition with his explosiveness. He is blessed with quick hands as well terrific hand-eye coordination, and can handle the puck in full flight -- this makes him dangerous with the puck and difficult to contain.

A common maneuver he likes to attempt is to throw the puck into his opponent's skates, fly past that player while they are distracted, and poke the puck forward so that he regains possession. At that point, he has a clear lane into the offensive zone.

He is most dangerous off the rush, as he is quick enough to beat players wide to the net. That said, he lacks physical strength to fight through traffic and push past the opponent, so he won't drive to the net unless the lane is perfectly clear. If it is not clear, he will cut behind the net and either chip it in front for his teammates while the opposition chases him, or maintain possession and station himself behind the net to make a play.

Connor's hands and speed allow him to skate practically anywhere he wants to in the offensive zone, which makes it a challenge to contain him. He tries to pull players out of position by moving aggressively and covering a wide area of the offensive zone, and looks for openings to make a crisp pass to his teammates. In front of the net, he is capable of chipping in rebounds and deflect pucks using his hand-eye, or shoot the puck past the goaltender from below the faceoff circle.

His weakest attribute is his shot. He lacks a one-timer and a hard shot, so he is limited to scoring goals within a short distance from the net. Most of his goals will be generated with his speed off the rush, but when the play is in the offensive zone, he serves primarily as a playmaker rather than as a goal scorer; this is his method of adapting to his strengths. He won't score many goals at all from above the faceoff circles due to his relatively average shot. He can't be considered a sniper in any sense of the word. Below the faceoff circles, however, he is a total threat to score.

His vision is not elite; it is above average, but there is a major difference between Crosby and McDavid in that Crosby has magnificent awareness of where other players are on the ice even when he does not see them. Patrick Kane also has this gift. Connor does not always make great plays, and he sometimes makes blind pass attempts that result in turnovers; he possesses crisp passing ability, but needs to see where his teammates are in order to make an effective, precise play. He creates open passing lanes with his speed, and can make crisp passes. When his head is up and he reviews his options in his head, he can feather passes through with immense skill. His blind plays, on the other hand, are more of a guess than actual awareness of his teammates' positioning.

Connor also lacks power in his game. This is the biggest difference between him and Sidney Crosby. Sid uses his lower-body strength to fight off checks, and he is very difficult to knock off the puck due to his balance and strength. He can withstand physical pressure from the opposition. McDavid doesn't have that -- he is all about his speed, gifted hands, and passing ability. Speed and finesse describe his play.

They are two totally different players.

 

[KCC]

Mcdavid reminds me of Bure

Eh. Kind of. He is fast like Bure was and has the hands to match that speed, but McDavid also has great vision and IQ as well to go with it.

 

[Daximus]

What I love the most about McDavid is he idolized Crosby growing up yet became a completely different player than him. Just like Crosby with his idols. And Gretzky with his. No two top talents are the same.

 

[snipes]

His vision is not elite.

Agree with most of your analysis, he doesn't have the same power game as Crosby. But he is strong on the boards, he's excellent with his stick creating opportunities rather than using his body. His stick control and ability to strip pucks is out outstanding.

Disagree on the vision. His vision is elite. Counter example, how many players make this pass? Watch the reverse angle, it shows outstanding vision to make that pass.

 

[Daximus]

Eh. Kind of. He is fast like Bure was and has the hands to match that speed, but McDavid also has great vision and IQ as well to go with it.

He's actually really comparable to Bure in terms of how he generates plays. He just doesn't have the shot Bure did. Instead he has a better pass. They are polar opposites in that regard. Never underestimate the Russian Rocket. He was generational in his own right. It just didn't last because of his knee. He was who I grew up watching, along with guys like Selanne. Bure is a very comparable player.

 

[JA]

Agree with most of your analysis, he doesn't have the same power game as Crosby. But he is strong on the boards, he's excellent with his stick creating opportunities rather than using his body. His stick control and ability to strip pucks is out outstanding.

Disagree on the vision. His vision is elite. Counter example, how many players make this pass? Watch the reverse angle, it shows outstanding vision to make that pass.

In that play, he has his head up the entire time and looks at Hall the entire time; while he may have made a wide move around the defenceman, he has plenty of room between himself and the opposing players to skate in without being impeded.

He is an excellent passer, but his passing becomes significantly less impressive when his teammates are in his blind spots.

I have never seen him make a play like this:



He makes too many mistakes when he attempts to make blind passes. For example, I've seen him try to blindly throw the puck into the middle of the ice in the neutral zone for his teammate only for it to go to no one. He isn't great when he is forced to make blind passes. He has guessed incorrectly far too many times for me to consider his vision in the same class as players such as Crosby and Kane.

He draws players out of position and feathers passes through lanes with pinpoint accuracy. That is his skill set as far as passing is concerned. He needs his eyes in order to recognize those plays, though.

 

[snipes]

He's actually really comparable to Bure in terms of how he generates plays. He just doesn't have the shot Bure did. Instead he has a better pass. They are polar opposites in that regard. Never underestimate the Russian Rocket. He was generational in his own right. It just didn't last because of his knee. He was who I grew up watching, along with guys like Selanne. Bure is a very comparable player.

He has better puck control at full speed and playmaking ability, Bure had a better shot. But certainly that next level speed they both have.

Another comparable that's close is Gilbert Perreault. Some combination of Perreault and Bure is about as close as you can get. Connor is a unique talent, we've never seen anyone quite like him. Might be the best skater to ever play (Orr, Perreault, and Bure held that title at one point).

 

[snipes]

In that play, he has his head up the entire time and looks at Hall the entire time; while he may have made a wide move around the defenceman, he has plenty of room between himself and the opposing players to skate in without being impeded.

He is an excellent passer, but his passing becomes significantly less impressive when his teammates are in his blind spots.

I have never seen him make a play like this:



He makes too many mistakes when he attempts to make blind passes. For example, I've seen him try to blindly throw the puck into the middle of the ice in the neutral zone for his teammate only for it to go to no one. He isn't great when he is forced to make blind passes.

We sometimes forget, McDavid is still a teenager. He's got time .

He reminds me a lot of Gilbert Perreault as a close comparison. Perreault was such an exceptional skater and passer, best of his era.

 

[snipes]

We sometimes forget, McDavid is still a teenager. He's got time .

He reminds me a lot of Gilbert Perreault as a close comparison. Perreault was such an exceptional skater and passer, best of his era.

3:07 of that video watch Perreault blow by the Soviet team leaving them in the dust. When McDavid turns it up it reminds me of that.

 

[JA]

He's actually really comparable to Bure in terms of how he generates plays. He just doesn't have the shot Bure did. Instead he has a better pass. They are polar opposites in that regard. Never underestimate the Russian Rocket. He was generational in his own right. It just didn't last because of his knee. He was who I grew up watching, along with guys like Selanne. Bure is a very comparable player.

Many forget that Bure was extremely strong on his skates and had tremendous power in his game. He drove hard to the net as hard as anyone of his stature could, fought through checks, and played a very chippy game.



Bure and McDavid both possess the same explosiveness, speed, and agility. If anyone questions what Bure could have done in the post-lockout NHL, they just have to look at the room that McDavid creates with his skating alone.

In the offensive zone, Bure was virtually Patrick Kane's doppelganger. I see so many similarities in their ability to sneak around the zone, support possession of the puck, make spontaneous plays, and shoot from anywhere to score.

He possessed an ability to make crisp passes, but was usually a shoot-first type of player, as his linemates were never quite as talented as he was. When they were, there was always a major injury holding one of them back, one of the misfortunes of his career. The exception is when he helped Gino Odjick, a career four-goal scorer, score 16 goals in 1993-94.

Pavel was also one of the most dangerous puck-handlers at top speed. That said, McDavid's ability to handle the puck is a little bit smoother.

Off the rush, Connor is very much like Bure, minus the shot and the strength to fight through traffic to get to the net. Bure played a power game off the rush and could rifle the puck from the blue line; McDavid doesn't have as many options. His skating ability is probably the most Bure-like I've seen from a player since Pavel Bure.

 

[Daximus]

We sometimes forget, McDavid is still a teenager. He's got time .

He reminds me a lot of Gilbert Perreault as a close comparison. Perreault was such an exceptional skater and passer, best of his era.

All I can think about as a goalie is man I'd be crucified in Bantam if I let some of those shots in. Damn GB was fast though. God damn.

 

[Raym11]

In that play, he has his head up the entire time and looks at Hall the entire time; while he may have made a wide move around the defenceman, he has plenty of room between himself and the opposing players to skate in without being impeded.

He is an excellent passer, but his passing becomes significantly less impressive when his teammates are in his blind spots.

I have never seen him make a play like this:



He makes too many mistakes when he attempts to make blind passes. For example, I've seen him try to blindly throw the puck into the middle of the ice in the neutral zone for his teammate only for it to go to no one. He isn't great when he is forced to make blind passes. He has guessed incorrectly far too many times for me to consider his vision in the same class as players such as Crosby and Kane.

He draws players out of position and feathers passes through lanes with pinpoint accuracy. That is his skill set as far as passing is concerned. He needs his eyes in order to recognize those plays, though.

Plays like the Kane goal are as much chemistry as they are awareness.


Sedins used to do those plays every single game like clockwork, Yeah they were elite players and Henrik one of the best, but so many of these "blind" passes are based upon your teammates knowing where they should be as well.


Give Mcdavid a couple years and steady linemates

 

[snipes]

All I can think about as a goalie is man I'd be crucified in Bantam if I let some of those shots in. Damn GB was fast though. God damn.

Unreal speed, that rush against the Soviets in game 4 of the 1972 Summit Series, end to end gone. Just blew by them (3:07 of the video above). Closest comparable I have for McDavid.

If anyone is interested, or hasn't heard of Gil Perreault before. Here's a Legends of Hockey documentary on him. One of the underrated greatest players who possessed exceptional skill, best skater of his era (between him and Orr).

 

[JA]

Plays like the Kane goal are as much chemistry as they are awareness.


Sedins used to do those plays every single game like clockwork, Yeah they were elite players and Henrik one of the best, but so many of these "blind" passes are based upon your teammates knowing where they should be as well.


Give Mcdavid a couple years and steady linemates

The Sedins operate on set plays and familiarity with one another. They are very studious about how the boards work, what angles to take to have the puck ricochet in a particular angle, where to be when their brother is in a particular position, and how to react in specific scenarios. They are extremely intelligent players. While they are high-vision players, I wouldn't necessarily call their familiarity with one another and synchronous play quite as much a product of vision as I would call it the product of practice and a life-long commitment to learning.

When I think of the player with perfect vision, I think of Wayne Gretzky. What you gain from long-term familiarity is knowledge of your teammates' tendencies and a recognition of familiar scenarios that makes puck movement easier.

Gretzky not only had knowledge, but an innate instinct. He anticipated the next move even when the scenario might have been brand new to him. I've seen him make some of the most absurd passes to his teammates even when they weren't always yet fully acquainted with another. I think that instinct and the ability to process new situations -- to be slightly ahead and anticipate correctly at spontaneous moments -- play a tremendous role in assessing a player's vision.

 

[Rexor]

I fully expect McDavid's style of play to change rather significantly down the road. He's probably going to put on some more muscle, slow the tempo down a bit and become more patient and less exciting. However spectacular he is, his curent version is still somewhat careless and naive and would probably make him way too exposed to physical punishment in the long run.