Where does MacKinnon rank among centers?

[Pierce Hawthorne]

He may be the most valuable asset in the nhl right now when taking into account age, skill, position and contract

Ehhhh. Think McDavid still holds that title. And Mackinnon still needs to keep this up over an entire season, and have it carry into next season before I'd be ready to anoint him as truly elite.



That said, if he finishes this year at ~90 points, and once again is at ~45-50 points through the midway point of next year...


Yeah, he could be in the conversation for most valuable player in the league. Signed for 5 more years at just 6.3M while his comparables are making double or more and also still only 22 years old.

 

[Pacman33]

Ehhhh. Think McDavid still holds that title. And Mackinnon still needs to keep this up over an entire season, and have it carry into next season before I'd be ready to anoint him as truly elite.



That said, if he finishes this year at ~90 points, and once again is at ~45-50 points through the midway point of next year...


Yeah, he could be in the conversation for most valuable player in the league. Signed for 5 more years at just 6.3M while his comparables are making double or more and also still only 22 years old.

I honestly think this is for real. We all knew mack had all the skill in the world and now his vision has caught up with the skill. I may be crucified but honestly id take mack over mcdavid right now. I do believe mcdavid is still a better player but not by much. So give me the guy with half the yearly salary so i can build a better overall team

 

[Future GOAT]

I honestly think this is for real. We all knew mack had all the skill in the world and now his vision has caught up with the skill. I may be crucified but honestly id take mack over mcdavid right now. I do believe mcdavid is still a better player but not by much. So give me the guy with half the yearly salary so i can build a better overall team

You won't get crucified, you'll just eat tons of crow later on.

 

[Dominance]

MacK at 6.3 or McD at 12.5? Very, very tough choice. McJesus isn’t twice as influential on games as MacKinnon.

 

[Pacman33]

You won't get crucified, you'll just eat tons of crow later on.

I doubt it. Ive watched every avs game this year and mackinnon is the best player on the ice for either team most nights and its not even close. I agree mcdavid is best player in the league but i think mack will be a top 5-10 player going forward. So at half the price id rather have mack. Will be interesting in edmonton but its going to be harder building a deep team with mcdavid and drai taking up so much cap

 

[GirardSpinorama]

I believe mcdavid is a better player, but in this modern nhl, with the rolling of four lines and much more emphasis on hockey systems, there is not that much gap between him and the next few awesome players. Individual players just cant do it all. Value wise, IF this is the pace mckinnon keeps up, mackinnon’s contract value in a salary cap world, he might just be a more valued asset.

 

[cgf]

I honestly think this is for real. We all knew mack had all the skill in the world and now his vision has caught up with the skill. I may be crucified but honestly id take mack over mcdavid right now. I do believe mcdavid is still a better player but not by much. So give me the guy with half the yearly salary so i can build a better overall team

MacK might be playing as well as McJesus this year, but this is still silly. Even if MacK keeps this up, McDavid is on another level.

 

[ijuka]

MacKinnon always was an intriguing player. His skills were at the very top of the elite, he has absolutely bonkers hands and the pure skillset is amongst the very best in the league. It always was just about putting it all together. And now that he seemingly has, he's one of the best players in the league. In fact, he might be the most impactful player period right now.

 

[Ainec]

while I agree that there's not much that separates the top 3 from the top 10 in any given year.. I disagree that MacKinnon is more valuable just because of 6M in savings

 

[WesMcCauley]

Nah he's got way better vision but his shot isn't nearly as good as Ovi's. Also think Ovechkin is much more physical.

You are either very young or just have a bad memory. Ovechkin in his prime was a fantastic passer and a complete beast. He has four 50+ assist seasons and had 59 assists in 72 games in 09/10.

 

[bobholly39]

Very cool that hes finally having a great year. I was always high on him but was starting to wonder if he was ever going to reach this level.

I still think comparing him to McDavid for value/worth is silly. McDavid is as generational a prospect as they come when you factor in all the hype and expectations and he's been living up to that since day 1. Even in this "down" year he's still very much in the art Ross race and imo remains a top 3 favorite to win.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

He keeps getting better. I now have him top-5 among centers.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I honestly think this is for real. We all knew mack had all the skill in the world and now his vision has caught up with the skill. I may be crucified but honestly id take mack over mcdavid right now. I do believe mcdavid is still a better player but not by much. So give me the guy with half the yearly salary so i can build a better overall team

I can't say I disagree, honestly.

 

[Laineux]

We are likely be witnessing MacKinnon's breakout year, but people should wait a bit more than 45 games riding sky-high underlying percentages before announting him a top 5 center in the world.

 

[cgf]

We are likely be witnessing MacKinnon's breakout year, but people should wait a bit more than 45 games riding sky-high underlying percentages before announting him a top 5 center in the world.

We must have very different definitions of "sky-high"

 

[migi]

At his current level he is definitely top-10 center in this league, just barely outside of top-5. He still has a lot to prove but he is in right way.

 

[Laineux]

We must have very different definitions of "sky-high"

His on-ice shooting percentage is substantially higher than what anyone has been able to maintain over a long period of time. Colorado has outscored their xGF by 23 goals when MacKinnon has been on ice.

I'd just be extremely wary in assuming that he's now a 100 point player or even close.

16-17
xgf/60 2.17
gf/60 2.51

17-18
xgf/60 2.23
gf/60 3.78

 

[Jarey Curry]

I would take Mackinnon with 6,3m over McDavid with whatever he's gonna get dont remember but it was such an absurd amount of money.

 

[cgf]

His on-ice shooting percentage is substantially higher than what anyone has been able to maintain over a long period of time. Colorado has outscored their xGF by 23 goals when MacKinnon has been on ice.

I'd just be extremely wary in assuming that he's now a 100 point player or even close.

16-17
xgf/60 2.17
gf/60 2.51

17-18
xgf/60 2.23
gf/60 3.78

I suppose I just don't put too much weight into expected stats because I know them from soccer; where I've watched Raffael & his Gladbach team blow away their expected goals all decade. Now the skill gap between different NHL teams isn't as great so I put some weight into team-wide expected stats, but not personal xGF/xGA.

What else ya got?

 

[Laineux]

I suppose I just don't put too much weight into expected stats because I know them from soccer; where I've watched Raffael & his Gladbach team blow away their expected goals all decade. Now the skill gap between different NHL teams isn't as great so I put some weight into team-wide expected stats, but not personal xGF/xGA.

What else ya got?

In my mind oish% and xgf makes me think that it's likely that his production will go significantly down from 1.3 ppg he's at now. I have no horse in this debate, I just think that we should wait a bit more before announting him a top 5 center in the world.

 

[Pacman33]

I would take Mackinnon with 6,3m over McDavid with whatever he's gonna get dont remember but it was such an absurd amount of money.

8 yr 100 mil so 12.5 per

 

[cgf]

In my mind oish% and xgf makes me think that it's likely that his production will go significantly down from 1.3 ppg he's at now. I have no horse in this debate, I just think that we should wait a bit more before announting him a top 5 center in the world.

I'll be curious to see what happens with his oish% cause his personal sh% has always been unsustainably low, Rantanen is easily the best sniper he's ever fed, and he's creating much more dangerous shots/chances than ever before. So though it'll comedown when Landeskog cools off, it shouldn't come anywhere close to his career #s.

Also curious to see how those oish% numbers stack up to the other scoring leaders come season's end

 

[tucker3434]

In my mind oish% and xgf makes me think that it's likely that his production will go significantly down from 1.3 ppg he's at now. I have no horse in this debate, I just think that we should wait a bit more before announting him a top 5 center in the world.

His oish% is high, but not astronomically high. It’s in line with elite players’ great years. I don’t think anyone is expecting MacKinnon to be a consistent 100 point player. But if he can be a ppg player with an occasional shot at 100 and an art ross, that’s a pretty phenomenal outcome for us.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

This will be his career best year. I'd expect him to settle back as a 70ish point player in the future. Still a bit bettet than RNH.

 

[Echo Roku]

This will be his career best year. I'd expect him to settle back as a 70ish point player in the future. Still a bit bettet than RNH.

Based on?