Lafleur and Jagr and Howe say hold my beer
He's definitely one of the all time greats but there's some really good wingers to have played the game. If he can maintain this for another 4-5 years I can see an argument, as much as I cant stand the guy he's an absolute wizard with the puck. Playmaking, shooting, handles he does it all. I wouldn't put him above Jagr or Ovechkin but I wouldn't argue against anyone saying he's up there.
You guys obviously never watched Lafleur Or Howe
Lafleur was the dominant player of the '70s 6 straight 50+ goals and 100 + seasons he played with good Centers never an elite one I used to watch the French Channel he was a player that would lift you out of your seat, so underrated compared to the rest of the greats, he was the fastest to 1000 points till Gretzky came along
I think that centers are at an advantage in terms of winning draws that lead to 1 pass and then a goal or directly to a goal in terms of collecting points. That said, how many times does that happen in a season? They are at a disadvantage in terms of playing a harder position defensively and being less likely to cherry pick because of it. At the end of the day the best offensive players on a team will have the most touches on the puck or at least close to it night in and night out unless they are a shooter that needs to be fed the puck.
Shutt was a winger he was called the garbage man for a reason Mahovolich was a winger till he was put with Lafleur for 2 seasons at center and his production went up 35 points Lemaire was a good center far from elite who's numbers were boosted by Lafleur. Lafleur 1st the player to ever record 6 straight 50 goal Campaigns 1st 6 straight 100-point seasons eclipsing Esposito who did it 5 times with Bobby Orr bringing the puck into the O zone steadily for him , watched all Lafleurs career so underrated . 5 cups 3 Lester Pearsons 3 Art Ross 2 Hart trophies and a Conn Smythe criminally underrated compared to other generational players
Jagr the GOAT winger? Just FYI, Gordie Howe was a winger.
I remember seeing it on Instagram and McDavid was actually #1 ahead of MacKinnon in 22-23 with a large gap between the #2 and #3. He clearly is not peak form physically, a lot of his goalscoring comes off explosive rushes and it's been notably less frequent than in many other years.
The older, Frank was a winger. The younger, Pete was a center. Lemaire finished top 5 and top 10 in scoring before ever playing with Lafleur. Lemaire also lead playoff scoring in one of those cup wins. Both Mahovlic and Lemaire were top 10 centers during the 70's.
If it somehow doesn't go to McKinnon, McDavid would be a worthy Hart winner as well.
MacKinnon has been overrated as hell up until the last few years. And even then it took the dude a decade playing in the league to finally hit 100 points in a season. And when they won the cup he wasn't even close to the best player. Makar was. He won the Conn Smythe. Without him, the Avs don't win that year and MacKinnon is still stuck in mediocrity. His trophy cabinet only has a cup, lady byng and a calder. That's it. Yes he's having a good season, finally but geez. People act like this guy has been top of the league every season winning tons of awards. He hasn't.
Not that I would put Kucherov near Jagr's level, as Jagr gave dominant performances even when the league was much more lower-scoring, but if he continues what he does this season into the next one, then he will reach 1000 points around the same time as Jagr did. He has another ten games remaining this season which should bring him to around 865 to 870 points after 725 games. That means he would have another 77 games until he reaches Jagr's total, with 130-135 points needed to reach 1000. He'd have to match his career best for that, but it is hardly unthinkable.
