Brucelenok
Registered User
- Aug 9, 2016
- 941
- 941
Simply put. Do you think McDavid will eclipse Ovechkin's career and be an all-time better player?
He is already better player because he has better production and knows how to play defense. Also center > winger.
OV had 65 goals and 112 pts in his 3rd season.
163g/310 total pts through his first 3 years
Mcdavid is on pace for 39g/100pts
that would give him 79g/248 pts
OV, and it isn't that close. When Mcdavid starts getting 50g AND 100+ pts he can be mentioned in the same convo as the great 8
I would put McDavid in the Top 5 of talent (OV, Crosby, Jagr, Lindros) that has entered the league since Wayne/Mario and he has had one of the best starts to a career that started as an 18 year old in NHL history. The former means he has the potential to use that talent to reach the 2nd tier of all-time greats which includes forwards like Hull, Richard, Belliveau and maybe Jagr if he has a somewhat injury-free career and playoff performances/success that stands apart from the pack. The latter needs to be taken with a grain of salt as players these days, especially prodigies, seem to be a lot more NHL ready at age 18.
OV has a regular season resume that puts him among the 2nd tier but is lacking in his playoff legacy. I am not convinced that McDavid will have a playoff resume that is befitting his regular season resume when all is said and done as, like OV, I don't think he has the all around offensive versatility to be as good in the playoffs.
OV was a great playoff performer from 07/08-10/11, 50pts (25G) in 37 GP (1.35 PPG). It's not his fault that during his peak/prime years he had incompetent management that couldn't find any decent support for him. No goalie, terrible D, no 2C. Those caps teams were pitiful in terms of being built to succeed in the playoffs. And it didn't help when guys who were supposed to be great scorers like Semin and Green decided to combine for zero goals in a series. OV himself was fine, he was handicapped by his team. Something that I feel will hold McDavid back as well, especially as long as Chia is around.
I went with "no". McDavid certainly has the potential to be more, especially based on last year, but the odds of having a better career in total are still against him, as so many bad things can happen to de-rail a good career.
As far as pure goal scoring ability goes, I only have Gretzky and Lemieux definitely ahead of Ovechkin. And I have Ovechkin neck and neck with Bobby Hull after them. While McDavid could still become a more well-rounded offensive threat, he'll never come near this stratosphere of goal scoring.