The top 5 playoff performers in the cap era (2006-2019)

[SimpleJack]

I don’t know why you are being so intentionally thick. I said he had wet dreams regarding the 09 run, which is way better than what Kane ever did. Not that their whole playoff careers are a big gap. Don’t twist my words. Stop citing face off percentage and more overtime goals as these strong arguments that I’m supposed to be like well okay you got me there. I can say Malkin has more goals in the finals , he has more points in the third and fourth rounds, a better ppg in the late rounds and he has more even strength assists and points while playing with much lesser talent. Kane’s pp was arguably just as good as the one Malkin played on. Now I’ll start bring up these points every time and say “but how can you ignore these???” Like you are doing.l with the even strength goals. What gets me is you arguing with yourself which makes this super entertaining for me. I never even said there was much a of a difference and you keep trying to hammer home that it’s not a much of a difference and I’m just sitting here like what the hell are you talking about I already know that. Learn some hockey and come back to me , thanks my dude. EDIT: and yes 1.04 and .97 is a large gap when it comes to ppg.

Im done here. Not wasting my time with someone that doesn’t know the definition of the words “much” and “large”...and who thinks FO% and overtime goals aren’t important...and says one player has more even strength points(while leaving out that he’s played in 35 more games)....and is gonna tell me I’m the one who doesn’t know hockey when he’s apparently unaware of how bad the Hawks PP was compared to those Penguins teams.

 

[KareemTrustfund]

Im done here. Not wasting my time with someone that doesn’t know the definition of the words “much” and “large”...and who thinks FO% and overtime goals aren’t important...and says one player has more even strength points(while leaving out that he’s played in 35 more games)....and is gonna tell me I’m the one who doesn’t know hockey when he’s apparently unaware of how bad the Hawks PP was compared to those Penguins teams.

Oh dear god... you really are simple, Jack . What’s more important, the faceoffs or more points in the later rounds? Or assist/point totals at even strength per game. The even strength goals are nice and dandy, just doesn’t make up for the PPG in my eyes. I’ve said that how many times and you keep coming back with nonsense that I’m ignoring it. You clearly are having a very difficult time with accepting this. You have it in your head Kane is a better playoff performer because of it and that’s fine. The Blackhawks PP was really good at least on paper, maybe if your boy did his part on it it would have been better so don’t throw that on me. Let me ask you this, what’s more clutch since you continue to shove overtime goals into this like it’s some kind of ultimate proof of Kane’s playoff supremacy. A higher PPG AND GPG in the third and fourth rounds over a career or FOUR extra goals that came in overtime over a career. Get that overtime shite out of this discussion you knuckle head! You keep ignoring my facts and pushing ones not even as improtsnt like bloody four more goals and a fo%. HAHAHA. Kane doesn’t even have to take them and he floats as bad as Ov. And regarding the more even strength points I meant in the later rounds in a ppg basis which I wasn’t clear on. Which is harder to maintain with more games played FYI ***Anyway the point I’m making continuously and you are failing to understand somehow is this- The only argument which is at least interesting is the even strength goals argument - which is cool but the points per game and assists at even strength and pp totals favor Malkin. Malkin had higher playoff ceilings, Malkin did more in the later rounds throughout his career which personally is whatever to me but I’m trying to get across to you the extra Four OT goals aren’t really as important as that. They are important but I feel like it’s a wash. Like you’ve heard why I think It’s Malkin and I really doubt you’ll convince me with faceoffs and a few extra overtime goals for the reason I previously explained.

 

[slapKing]

As the OP, I would like to give my thoughts as well.

Kane, Keith, Crosby, and Malkin are my top 4. I'm not surprised those 4 guys are the top 4 voters in this poll. Those 4 in particular have incredible playoff resumes.

Kane: Most clutch performer in his generation. wetcoast stated in one of his posts that Kane had 48 points in 35 games where his team could clinch the series, stave off elimination, or a game 7. I verified that via hockey reference game logs for playoffs, and it is indeed correct. Kane is as clutch as they come, especially when the games mean more. twice lead the hawks SC teams in scoring (2013, 2015)

Keith: The only dman to be #1 on 3 sc championship teams during this time. Of the blackhawks trio, Keith is the only one who can make a case for the playoffs mvp in all three runs in 2010, 2013, and 2015. That's something that Toews and Kane can't say. His 2015 is in contention for best playoff run during this timeframe. Unanimous playoff mvp.

Crosby: Top 10 playoff scorer all time, b2b playoff mvps with two other big runs. Crosby has the strongest overall playoff resume during this timeframe.

Malkin: Trails behind his teammate in points and ppg (with a significant sample size). His 2009 run is the best run by a forward during this time period. Malkin's 2009 playoff run is also in contention for best playoff run during this timeframe. Both penguins duo are the only ppg+ players in the playofffs during this time frame with a significant sample size (so guys with much smaller sample size like Guentzel or MacKinnon don't count). twice lead the pens SC teams in scoring (2009, 2017)

Now, this doesn't mean these 4 have bad playoff runs. Everybody does, but the good undoubtedly outweighs the bad.

The fifth person was a hard choice, lot's of contenders, but I went with Pronger. Pronger lacks the longevity, put his peak more than makes up for it.

 

[Star Ocean]

Blatant slash on a 20 year old Crosby

More like he took out the trash for crybaby crosby at that time.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

More like he took out the trash for crybaby crosby at that time.

Textbook slash

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Crosby
31 in 24
27 in 20
27 in 24
21 in 12
19 in 13
19 in 23

nobody in this era has anywhere near that resume

 

[aufheben]

Pronger
Briere
Lundqvist
Malkin
Kane
HM: Zetterberg

Briere was absolutely ridiculous. Pronger could carry a team to the Final.

 

[Varan]

That's not even his worst OV take lol. There's some real gems in the post history

The disrespect is real lord have mercy

Not even top-10. Wow

 

[Varan]

If it was for the totality of the playoffs, I'd take Crosby and Malkin #1 and #2

If it was in the Finals, I'd take Patrick Kane over anybody. Dude is cold-blooded when it matters the most

 

[Habs10025]

Crosby
Malkin
Kane
Toews
Doughty

 

[Gurglesons]

Kane
Crosby
Malkin
Pronger
Zetterberg

 

[K Fleur]

Zetterberg is Detroit’s best playoff performer of the cap era not really all that close in my eyes. Which is a testament to how good Zetterberg was considering his teammates.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Crosby
Malkin
Kane
Toews
Doughty

That’s my list too.

Three cups for Pens/Hawks and two for Kings.

I thought about putting Kopitar in over Doughty, but ended up going with Doughty.

 

[aufheben]

This guy was money. 53 goals and 116 points in 124 playoff games. It is rare for a player to be consistently better in the playoffs than in the regular season.

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
1999-00	22	PHX	NHL	1	0	0	0	0
2001-02	24	PHX	NHL	5	2	1	3	-4
2005-06	28	BUF	NHL	18	8	11	19	0
2006-07	29	BUF	NHL	16	3	12	15	3
2007-08	30	PHI	NHL	17	9	7	16	-3
2008-09	31	PHI	NHL	6	1	3	4	-1
2009-10	32	PHI	NHL	23	12	18	30	9
2010-11	33	PHI	NHL	11	7	2	9	-7
2011-12	34	PHI	NHL	11	8	5	13	-6
2013-14	36	MTL	NHL	16	3	4	7	-1
5 yrs		PHI	NHL	68	37	35	72	-8
2 yrs		PHX	NHL	6	2	1	3	-4
2 yrs		BUF	NHL	34	11	23	34	3
1 yr		MTL	NHL	16	3	4	7	-1
Career		10 yrs	NHL	124	53	63	116	-10

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/24/2020.

 

[rent free]

This guy was money. 53 goals and 116 points in 124 playoff games. It is rare for a player to be consistently better in the playoffs than in the regular season.

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
1999-00	22	PHX	NHL	1	0	0	0	0
2001-02	24	PHX	NHL	5	2	1	3	-4
2005-06	28	BUF	NHL	18	8	11	19	0
2006-07	29	BUF	NHL	16	3	12	15	3
2007-08	30	PHI	NHL	17	9	7	16	-3
2008-09	31	PHI	NHL	6	1	3	4	-1
2009-10	32	PHI	NHL	23	12	18	30	9
2010-11	33	PHI	NHL	11	7	2	9	-7
2011-12	34	PHI	NHL	11	8	5	13	-6
2013-14	36	MTL	NHL	16	3	4	7	-1
5 yrs		PHI	NHL	68	37	35	72	-8
2 yrs		PHX	NHL	6	2	1	3	-4
2 yrs		BUF	NHL	34	11	23	34	3
1 yr		MTL	NHL	16	3	4	7	-1
Career		10 yrs	NHL	124	53	63	116	-10

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/24/2020.

he was a monster in the 2010 playoffs

 

[CB Joe]

Surprised to see Pronger getting so few votes.

 

[ahmon]

As the OP, I would like to give my thoughts as well.

Kane, Keith, Crosby, and Malkin are my top 4. I'm not surprised those 4 guys are the top 4 voters in this poll. Those 4 in particular have incredible playoff resumes.

Kane: Most clutch performer in his generation. wetcoast stated in one of his posts that Kane had 48 points in 35 games where his team could clinch the series, stave off elimination, or a game 7. I verified that via hockey reference game logs for playoffs, and it is indeed correct. Kane is as clutch as they come, especially when the games mean more. twice lead the hawks SC teams in scoring (2013, 2015)

Keith: The only dman to be #1 on 3 sc championship teams during this time. Of the blackhawks trio, Keith is the only one who can make a case for the playoffs mvp in all three runs in 2010, 2013, and 2015. That's something that Toews and Kane can't say. His 2015 is in contention for best playoff run during this timeframe. Unanimous playoff mvp.

Crosby: Top 10 playoff scorer all time, b2b playoff mvps with two other big runs. Crosby has the strongest overall playoff resume during this timeframe.

Malkin: Trails behind his teammate in points and ppg (with a significant sample size). His 2009 run is the best run by a forward during this time period. Malkin's 2009 playoff run is also in contention for best playoff run during this timeframe. Both penguins duo are the only ppg+ players in the playofffs during this time frame with a significant sample size (so guys with much smaller sample size like Guentzel or MacKinnon don't count). twice lead the pens SC teams in scoring (2009, 2017)

Now, this doesn't mean these 4 have bad playoff runs. Everybody does, but the good undoubtedly outweighs the bad.

The fifth person was a hard choice, lot's of contenders, but I went with Pronger. Pronger lacks the longevity, put his peak more than makes up for it.

Couldnt' have said it better, exactly my thoughts.

 

[wetcoast]

Zetterberg is Detroit’s best playoff performer of the cap era not really all that close in my eyes. Which is a testament to how good Zetterberg was considering his teammates.

I tend to agree but Datsyuk was pretty awesome in his own right but sure people sometimes forget what a high impact Zetterberg was for a 5 year playoff stretch there.

One of the most dominant 5 year stretches in the sC playofffs ever for a 2 way forward.

Player Season Finder | Hockey-Reference.com

 

[psycat]

Kane, Malkin, Crosby, Keith then I homervoted Zetterberg.

edit: Liked the poster(s?) who did a different take and came up with non superstars who elevated their play in the playoffs though. I mean no surprise the best in the business is still the best come playoffs, for the most part.