I question McDavid because of his gross cap hit. That's a lot of coin in one guy. Sure plus minus isn't a good stat but with the eye test it "currently" paints a poor picture for McDavids relative effectiveness.
However I am not questioning his abilities. Everyone knows he is amazing. Generational... at this exact point in time... That's actually a tough sell. So many ahead in the scoring race. So many outplaying his relative effectiveness.
If he comes back like he did last year at this point, great. But if he doesn't. That's bad.
Overall this team isnt as bad as so many make it out your be either. Right now I feel like our team is a remake of the Minnesota Wild when the only talented player they had was Marion Gaborik. A whole team coached to basically have one guy as the offensive catalyst and everyone else is coached just to clog up the game.
And as mentioned not having 3/4 of your top 4 defenders will hurt any individuals stats and eye test significantly. A true excuse for McDavid but also proving my point. One players does not make a team.
I think it's pretty obvious McDavid is "struggling" right now for whatever reason while still playing good to great hockey.
No reason to get all melodramatic and insinuate I want him traded.
I like the lines from last game. Hope Hitchcock goes back to that for at least another game. But if that doesn't work either I would love to see the big three run thier own lines. Spread the wealth out and get those guys earning thier pay.
Spooner McDavid XXX (Rattie, Zykov, Marody, whoever)
Rieder Draisaitl Chaison
Kharia Nuge Puljujarvi
Lucic Brodziach Kassian
Force McDavid to earn his pay and equally important get all 4 lines at a point where they can contribute. Play more as team.
Wow lol you're basically wrong on every single point you're trying to make...
First of all, the Wild team under Lemaire absolutely SUCKED. They made one miracle run and that's it. It's funny how you use that team as a comparison to say this current roster is not as bad as some think. When in fact it really is just that bad.
Second, is it reasonable to expect McDavid to lead the scoring race with his pathetic supporting cast? Outside of Draisaitl (maybe RNH) there isn't a single player on this roster than can compliment McDavid's play. Look at the leading scorers and you'll notice the trend where they have a consistent set of good teammates (including defensemen) who are capable to generating offense. Frankly it's amazing that McDavid has scored as much as has so far.
As for his defensive play, I have to disagree again. He's prone to losing coverage in the defensive zone, but he's elite at backchecking and stick checking. By my eye test, he's very effective at forcing turnovers or straight up taking away pucks from other players on the backcheck. He loses his man in front of the net sometimes, but to me that's a small price to pay to have a player of his calibre. +/- is a horrible stat to use to judge defensive effectiveness, more often than not it's his linemates/defense pairing's fault that the puck doesn't get out of our zone and ends up in our net.