Where does MacKinnon rank among centers?

[Devil Dancer]

Bold: IMO, no f***ing way these guys are better than MacKinnon this season.

He specifically said he was talking about their standing coming into this season, since we have such a small sample size to go on of MacK being elite.

Good for the Avs, I hope he keeps it up.

 

[Ararana]

I don't want to be that guy of "what about our player!?", but if you're including MacKinnon in the top 15, you've got to acknowledge what Monahan has done as of late too.

Both these players are pretty underrated and have been overshadowed by Barkov in the 2013 draft (but with good reason). The Panthers, Avs, and Flames got pretty lucky on their picks with how impactful they've been.

You are more than welcome to create a Monahan thread...

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

I think Top 15 is fair.

10th in the NHL in points. 6th in points per game.

Craziest thing about Mackinnon that I keep repeating is his age. He turned 22 just two months ago yet people act like he's ancient. To put that in perspective, Leon Draisaitl is also 22.

There have been 121 "rookies" who have laced up in the NHL. 69 of those rookies are older than Nathan Mackinnon.

Even crazier, 5 of those older rookies (Kerfoot, Compher, Toninato, Mironov, and Lindholm) are on the Avs. There are only 3 guys on the Avs right now (Jost, Girard, Rantanen) who are younger than Mack.

 

[Freaky Styley]

How on earth has he shown more than Barkov who has played 3 straight seasons now with 0.90ppg as a center or better and is Selke level two-way player?

Fair enough. I meant more in the stretch of his current hot streak and that when it's all said and done, MacKinnon will be seen as superior. Like I said, I'm a big Barkov fan but at the end of the day he is a Kopitar replica, whereas MacKinnon is more like Stamkos. Comes down to which kind of player you value more (obviously factoring in playoffs, Kopitar every day) but MacKinnon has that game-breaking dynamic offensive ability few players have in the league. Either way, the Barkov-MacKinnon debate doesn't keep him out of the top 15.

 

[bobholly39]

Bold: IMO, no f***ing way these guys are better than MacKinnon this season.

Italics: IMO approximately same level as MacKinnon this season.

Edit: It’s all in italics, because that’s smart. Only players I have as definitely better are McDavid, Crosby, Stamkos, Matthews, and Scheifele.

I mean.
Backstrom had 86 points last year. Wasn't he like 3rd or 4th in league?
Eichel is somewhat similar to McKinnon in terms of pedigree/not as super hot start to career, but i think if you made a poll between the 2 majority pick Eichel, now and future.
Toews. Big Track record. Maybe he has regressed a bit.
Johansen - probably should have been on my 2nd list.

Like i said you can maybe nitpick 1 or 2 players here and there from first 15 i listed - but the flipside is there's at least a few guys in the 2nd list (or unlisted) that can be argued ahead of him too.

McKinnon has the potential to breakout and become a top 15C, or even top 5-10C someday. He hasn't yet.

Is this his breakout season? Great. Let's wait till past 23 games to judge.

I mean no offense but you put Malkin in italic.

Today - Malkin >> McKinnon. And today doesn't mean "so far these 23 games".

 

[bobholly39]

All of the guys you listed under your top 15 are not better than Mackinnon, especially when you consider age, role on the team, etc. I have no problem putting 2-way guys ahead of him but guys like Koivu don't do enough to bridge the offensive gap.

On your top 15, he's definitely ahead of Johansen. I also think he's better than Seguin, and has shown more than Eichel & Barkov (though I'm a big Barkov fan). The others I can agree with, but at this point I think he's comfortably in the top 15.

I grant you Johansen.
Everyone else in first 15 names though - not really. You may think he's better than Seguin, Eichel & Barkov but i'd be willing to bet a strong majority around here would disagree with you.

That still puts him 15th at best, and probably closer to 15-20 range.

 

[Dominance]

He specifically said he was talking about their standing coming into this season, since we have such a small sample size to go on of MacK being elite.

Good for the Avs, I hope he keeps it up.

I understand and wasn’t trying to take any shots at him. Just putting my opinions out in regards to where he should be ranked this season .

 

[Wrath]

I've been pulling for Mackinnon to succeed since the beginning so I am optimistic. However after getting caught up a bit in the post rookie season hype and then getting burned for it, I am cautious to rank him this high yet.

He is showing a very high compete level and he has started putting together his exceptional physical tools in a smarter way. That said, I'm going to need to see a longer period of consistently elite play to anoint him as top 10 or even top 15. I'd probably grant him top 20 though.

I do think coming into this season that he was getting criminally underrated (especially those calling him a huge bust). He's made strides in his last few seasons despite not reaching his rookie point totals. Furthermore last year's Avs team was pretty pathetically bad.

The potential is there though, that is for sure. If he can finish this season at 70+ points it would go a long way to helping his cause (mind you he's currently on 99.8 P/82G pace, but I expect him to cool off after a scorching November).

 

[IPS]

Around 25th-30th sounds pretty fair to me. Still way behind guys like Kadri, Backlund, etc...

 

[Alex Jones]

One of the things that is really interesting to me is that Mackinnon has never really found his shot at the NHL level.

For a guy that came into the league with a reputation as a scoring center, the fact that he's only passed 20 goals twice is a bit puzzling. Wouldn't surprise me if it's actually his goal scoring rate that holds him back from being a superstar level player.

 

[sr edler]

Not following Avalanche closely but from distance MacKinnon gives the impression of a slightly overweight fratboy. He's still probably better than Duchene though who played like a streaky spoiled brat lightweight scorer.

 

[Balthazar]

Around 25th-30th sounds pretty fair to me. Still way behind guys like Kadri, Backlund, etc...

lol

 

[mattcookefan]

Not following Avalanche closely but from distance MacKinnon gives the impression of a slightly overweight fratboy. He's still probably better than Duchene though who played like a streaky spoiled brat lightweight scorer.

Maybe you should continue not following the avs

 

[Riddum]

He's not that good. He can't shoot the puck. He's McDavid lite. Less speed, less skills, less hockey smarts

 

[Jarey Curry]

He's becoming our very own younger version of Tyler Seguin. We will have to wait for the answer until end of the season how good he is among centers. Some top 5-10 players regress and others outside play better particularly so there's not a clear cut top 10 thats every year the same.
P.s. And even I would like my post cause it's so damn good

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Nowhere close to top 10, not top 15 either. Takes more than a 15 game hot streak to crack a list of consistent elite performers. If MacK keeps up a similar pace all season and into the next then sure, throw him in the top 10 mix. But 20 games don't mean shit. Unless y'all also think Stamkos is the best C and Schenn is top 5 or Kessel and Voracek are better than Kane.

 

[yangmang]

IMO he has a case (though not a very good one) for top 10. He's easily a top 20 center and I can't really justify him out of the top 15. I realize I underrated him in the past, the kid is really good.

maybe in top 30

 

[93LEAFS]

He's probably 15-25. If he keeps this up for the entire year, then he'll be in the discussion for the top 10. But, 25 games isn't enough to immediately jump guys with much stronger track records. I think he'll likely settle into a 65 to 75 point center, but I have trouble seeing him staying a point per game guy. Either way, his emergence back to the player he looked to have the potential of being in junior and his rookie year is a big win for he Avs. He was actually pretty good last year considering the garbage around him.

 

[Foppberg]

lol

Kid's clearly just looking for a reaction, if not ..

 

[mattcookefan]

He's not that good. He can't shoot the puck. He's McDavid lite. Less speed, less skills, less hockey smarts

Literally everyone in the league is Mcdavid lite

 

[EscapedGoat]

I don't want to be that guy of "what about our player!?", but if you're including MacKinnon in the top 15, you've got to acknowledge what Monahan has done as of late too.

Both these players are pretty underrated and have been overshadowed by Barkov in the 2013 draft (but with good reason). The Panthers, Avs, and Flames got pretty lucky on their picks with how impactful they've been.

Almost got halfway through the first page before a Flames fan brought up Monahan in a MacKinnon thread.

It's like clockwork. If you see a MacKinnon thread, there will be Flames fans bringing up Monahan. I don't get it.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Crosby
McDavid
Matthews
Stamkos
Schiefele
Tavares
Kopitar
Seguin
Barkov
Malkin
Eichel
Backstrom
Toews
Johansen
Bergeron

That's 15.


Than you have guys like
Zetterberg
Thornton
Giroux
Couture
Koivu
Couturier
Kuznetsov
Draisaitl

I'm not saying the first 15 are all definitely way ahead of McKinnon - but at the end of last year a strong case could be made that they were. And i left out a lot of other centers with a hot start this year.

Sorry but he's nowhere near top 10C currently. Top 15 is pushing it.

I'm actually pretty high on McKinnon overall and I think he can become a top 5 c in the league, but he simply hasn't yet. He seems to be off to a great start this year, which is fantastic, but i want to see more than a 23 game sample size before I rank him ahead of many of these other guys.

Considering age, contracts, and performance this season and not all past performance and reputation:

McDavid, Crosby, Matthews, Stamkos, Tavares, Malkin, Barkov, Backstrom and Seguin are the only 100% better I would take over MacKinnon. You could argue and maybe talk me into Schiefele, Eichel, Giroux, Kuznetsov, and Bergeron.

Everyone else, I would take MacKinnon without hesitating.

And I know what McDavid brings, but if you are considering contracts, many centers are more "valuable".

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

I don't want to be that guy of "what about our player!?", but if you're including MacKinnon in the top 15, you've got to acknowledge what Monahan has done as of late too.

Both these players are pretty underrated and have been overshadowed by Barkov in the 2013 draft (but with good reason). The Panthers, Avs, and Flames got pretty lucky on their picks with how impactful they've been.

I dont want to be that guy....by being that guy. Makes sense.

 

[Makar Goes Fast]

Mackinnon is ranked as colorado's top center/player and that's all i care about.

 

[falconski]

I just came to mention Monahan, but I see somebody already did it unironically