Why exactly do you think Malkin is an underrated as he is?

[House of tpo]

I think Crosby "overshadowing" him his entire time in the league certainly has to be the biggest reason. I would argue that him only playing 70+ games 4 times total in his whole career would have to be a close second. I also truly think there is league bias involved. As so many have pointed out so many times... if he were Evan Malgrin from Thunder Bay, I can't help but think he would at least be included on silly little lists and such.

He is, without a doubt in my mind, the most underappreciated superstar and generational talent I've personally watched play the game.

Well said i couldnt agree more

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

So and he's still put up great numbers so what are you saying

Not to speak for somebody else but he's just saying that's a huge reason he's often overlooked or underrated.

 

[House of tpo]

He lacks intangibles

That is absolutely absurd wtf are you talking about he's won a hart trophy a conn smythe ,a scoring title and might win a 2nd and also a 3 time cup champion cmon that's ridiculous

 

[House of tpo]

Not to speak for somebody else but he's just saying that's a huge reason he's often overlooked or underrated.

Yes it's a factor but he's not the only superstar that's been bitten by the injury bug but i understand what your saying

 

[House of tpo]

Definitely to me it's having crosby as geno's teammate that's been the main reason he's been overshadowed

 

[Ugene Magic]

There are ten players with as many 40+ goal seasons in history as Ovechkin.

If you take out the two lockouts. One he was
on pace for 40 and would easily get it. The other would’ve been his rookie year.

He’d be tied with Lemieux and Dionne and Gretzky would be the only one with more per history.

He is a top three goal scorer of all time.

The would of /could of/ should of , say.... had Mario played as long as and healthy as Ovechkin wouldn't even be in the top 3 at all.

I guess he'll have to settle for 4th/5th best for something he hasn't even completed yet.

At least you are not saying he'll be the absolute best goalscorer of all time.

Here, I'll say it.... Ovechkin is the laziest best goalscorer from the Left dot.

This is how I'll always project him.

Disconnect until pass...

 

[Turin]

So and he's still put up great numbers so what are you saying

He doesn’t get exposure his talent deserves because his talent is on the shelf for 30% of every season.

 

[Richard]

The would of /could of/ should of , say.... had Mario played as long as and healthy as Ovechkin wouldn't even be in the top 3 at all.

I guess he'll have to settle for 4th/5th best for something he hasn't even completed yet.

At least you are not saying he'll be the absolute best goalscorer of all time.

Here, I'll say it.... Ovechkin is the laziest best goalscorer from the Left dot.

This is how I'll always project him.

Disconnect until pass...

You could make a collage of Mario giving a similar, or lesser effort. (and I watched every damn game, first 8 years as a season ticket holder). Jagr the same. So what?

Have you watched Sid this season? How many times has he been standing still?

Doesn't take away Ovechkin could score 800 goals.... in THIS NHL. Amazing. Hell, he may have a chance to be the all time goal leader. It is incredible.

 

[madinsomniac]

Malkin is a center. That is his role in the game.

Ovechkin is a winger and arguably has been the second most effective player at what he is suppose to do in his role behind Sid in the past 12 years. If he scores 50 goals this year he will join a list of four players have done that post 30. His 2005-06 is the second best goal scoring season of all time if it is adjusted for era.

Like I said, Ovechkin could easily be putting up these numbers or better with the Penguins behind Sid.

Steven Stamkos is the best pure goalscorer of this generation... him playing center probably holds him back some, but adjusted for a full 82 healthy games a year he would average 44 goals on significantly less shots than Ovie with a shit ton of other responsibilities....

If you had to pick one player to score a goal off of one shot and your life depends on the goalscorer... ovie absolutely isn't top 5 in this era... probably not top ten... Malkin probably ranks higher...

 

[Turin]

Sigh. It's not that hard to spell, dude.

Do me a favor, the next time you want to bring me and my countrymen into your argument, at least try to spell our name correctly, okay? Christ on a cracker.

I can’t tell if you’re actually offended by this or pretending to be.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I can’t tell if you’re actually offended by this or pretending to be.

Then lurk more.

Or make a wild guess. I like to keep everyone on their toes.

 

[Ugene Magic]

You could make a collage of Mario giving a similar, or lesser effort. (and I watched every damn game, first 8 years as a season ticket holder). Jagr the same. So what?

Have you watched Sid this season? How many times has he been standing still?

Doesn't take away Ovechkin could score 800 goals.... in THIS NHL. Amazing. Hell, he may have a chance to be the all time goal leader. It is incredible.

This is every single game. Yes. I have seen them play and they were never disconnect in the same spot. Mario posted up, below the goal line/behind the net and half walled it. Alex is the same thing regardless of what's going on.


I'm just going to bow out, you did say "COULD." Baby steps.

I "could" actually give a ****.

You just don't have to try so hard to sell something nobody is buying.

Nobody is underselling him, he's just not what you are saying he is or going to be.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I can’t tell if you’re actually offended by this or pretending to be.

This isn't hard.

He's always mad.

 

[HandshakeLine]

This isn't hard.

He's always mad.

Not true!

Sometimes, I'm drunk.

 

[Turin]

Then lurk more.

Or make a wild guess. I like to keep everyone on their toes.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt haha.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

Is it cause he is Russian?
Is it cause he is on a team with golden boy Crosby
Is it cause of his injuries ( which all really stemmed from the abuse refs let him take)
Is it cause he plays for the hated Pens?

Honestly the guy gets no respect and its pretty stupid as far as I am concerned...

It is because he plays on the same team as Crosby. If he had played his career on another team such as the Rangers or Habs, Leafs, or some other big market team he would be in the same talk as Crosby and AO as the best player of his generation. Just look at how overrated Toews is playing with the Blackhawks. Can you imagine if Malkin had played on that team all those years instead of Toews.

Too not have him in the top 100 list was a crime and I see him as one of the top 20 of all time. If he plays a long career maybe even top 10. If he pulls out the scoring title this year that would be 3 and when has the last person won 3 scoring titles? Jagr is the guy which is the past generation of hockey. So if Malkin pulls this off he could legitimately be considered the best of his era. I think it goes Crosby, Malkin, and AO 3rd. But like I said if Malkin pulls this off and ages better than Crosby and AO he could very easily be the best of his generation.

 

[Shady Machine]

Poor Geno. Can't even dominate the conversation in his own thread dedicated to why he's so underrated.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I saw prime Lemieux that is it. Lemieux in my mind is the best offensive player I have ever seen. He didn’t score like Ovechkin did though, especially in his early 30s.

I think there is an argument to say 96 was his second best year and he wasn’t doing what Ovechkin did.

Ovechkin can score at will. Lemieux could turn a game at will.

The difference is the era. I think you could make an argument Jags was a better goal scorer than Mario based on when their primes were.

I don’t want to get in trouble but that post is laughable. Mario was by far a better goal scorer in his prime than Jagr and the best ever in my opinion. Honestly AO is not even in the same league with Mario and for you to suggest it tells me you are not old enough to have watched Mario before the back issues or you are a troll. Even Mario with a bad back that he could not tie his own skates and with radiation treatments Mario was a far better player than AO and he was a shell of himself compared to the late 80’s Mario. The sad thing is by the time he got to play with good players and teams he had the back issues. Mario still almost averaged 2 points a game even with those issues and playing later years. Mario was over 2 points a game before he came back out of retirement. In his prime he was averaging 2.5+ points a game even with sub par line mates.

AO is at best the 3rd best player of his generation and you and others compare him with the best player to ever put on a pair of skates. 99 best career and 66 best talent but injuries robbed him of several prime years and poor teams for his first 5 years while 99 played with great teams right from his beginning. 23 year old Mario was the best player to ever play the game period.

Malkin is easily the better player over AO and it is not close in my opinion. Malkin’s overall game is light years better and he is averaging more points per game while playing both ends of the ice. Crosby, Malkin, and then comes AO for top 3 of their generation.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I fully agree. And it always irks me when I see people counting top 5 and top 10 finishes indiscriminately for players of different eras. It's one thing to end up top 5 in a 6 team league of 50s and 60s (with roughly 60 regular forwards almost exclusively from Canada), another thing in 20 team league in 80s (with roughly 200 regular forwards mostly from Canada and some US and scandinavian players) and it's completely different thing to end up top 5 in a 30 team league now (with roughly 300-400 regular forwards from all over the world).



Better comparison would be how he would look when comparing careers up to 31 year. Malkin ranks 29th there https://www.hockey-reference.com/pl...1val=50&threshhold=5&order_by=points_per_game

That is not a better comparison because most of those players in the 28 ahead of him played in a much more high scoring era. Malkin has won 2 scoring titles and very well might win a 3rd this season. Malkin is easily one of the top 20 players of all time and if he plays long enough can be
a top 10.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

Ovechkins probably the best goal scorer of all time. Some of you guys are nuts

You are saying we are nuts?!!??! AO the best goal scorer of all time? Well let’s compare him to Mario. AO is not in his league and even a Mario with a bad back that he had to have someone lace his skates before games and with playing after missing 20 games due to radiation treatments for cancer Mario still scored 69 goals in 60 games to go along with his 160 points. This was a Mario that was a shell of himself pre back injuries and he still was worlds better than his peers at that time and better than AO ever was. Mario was robbed of most of his prime years but Mario’s 4th and 5th seasons before his back injuries was the best player to ever lace up a pair of skates. Unfortunately during his first 5 years he played on bad teams with below average line mates. Mario far outpaced the league in goals per game and points per game in most of his years. He won 6 scoring titles despite only playing above 64 games 7 times in his career. One of those times was when he was 36 years old and he played 67 games. When Mario was healthy and in his prime he was a goal a game player that scored 2.5+ points a game. Don’t even put AO in the same sentence with him because it just makes you look ignorant.

AO is the 3rd best player of his
Generation behind Crosby and Malkin and they are both not close to 66 either.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

You could make a collage of Mario giving a similar, or lesser effort. (and I watched every damn game, first 8 years as a season ticket holder). Jagr the same. So what?

Have you watched Sid this season? How many times has he been standing still?

Doesn't take away Ovechkin could score 800 goals.... in THIS NHL. Amazing. Hell, he may have a chance to be the all time goal leader. It is incredible.

Watched every game of Mario’s first 8 years? I don’t believe you because Mario was by far the better goal scorer and player. Anyone who watched Mario late 80’s knows this to be fact. He was the most dominant player I have ever seen including that 99 fellow. AO couldn’t hold his jock strap. 69 goals in 60 games with bad back and after radiation treatments and a shell of himself. That season he still wins the scoring title playing only 60 games. You are a liar because no way you went to all the Pens games for Mario’s first 8 years and then come in hear and say AO was better. That is laughable.

These boards bring in all shorts of people. You won’t convince anyone that who actually watched the Pens in the late 80’s. 85 goals and 199 points in 76 games playing with way below average wingers (Rob Brown was a career minor league player in his prime years and Mario made him look like an all star. Bob Errey was a checking line type forward on his other wing. Comparing AO and Saying he was better gives you no credibility and I don’t believe you at all that you watched his first 8 years as a season ticket holder. I am sure we have many Pens season ticket holders of the Lemieux era that are AO believers as best goal scorer ever, NOT!

 

[madinsomniac]

I just dont believe if the geno/ao draft were redone knowing what we know now, that any single gm not even Washington, would draft AO over malkin... and I think if malkin ends up on anyone elses team, whack a malkin never is allowed to happen and the guy is much more respected...


Id bet if he were Canadian and on Toronto or Montreal, there are ample arguments that he is the best player of this generation frequently in the media...

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Steven Stamkos is the best pure goalscorer of this generation... him playing center probably holds him back some, but adjusted for a full 82 healthy games a year he would average 44 goals on significantly less shots than Ovie with a **** ton of other responsibilities....

If you had to pick one player to score a goal off of one shot and your life depends on the goalscorer... ovie absolutely isn't top 5 in this era... probably not top ten... Malkin probably ranks higher...

Wut?

 

[pokey10]

His peers have the same equipment. And he is simply the best goal scorer ever.

There have been 20 50 goal seasons since the NHL lockout and ten of the those came in the first three years----- and Ovechkin has 7 of them. In the last seven seasons 10 players have hit 50 and Ovechkin has five of those seasons and Stamkos has 2....

Stamkos, Heatley and Kovalchuck are 2nd with two since the lockout.........

I cant hop on board with this... Too many advantages with todays equipment, surrounding talent, and rule changes. Im not one to pump a vets tires just for nostalgic reasons, Bossy, Hull and Richard are for that category that is bolded. Now AO is the best of the past two decades, I will agree to that.



Lemieux is Lemieux. That is what I think Malkin is suffering from... He accumulated a lot of missed time due to lockouts, and injuries. Shit, he missed what would have been his original rookie season when we drafted him if the Russian Super League wassnt corrupt af...

 

[TheMalkinEra]

Part of the problem is that in the NBA and NFL, the ex players in the media are more likely to be superstars. Where as in the NHL here in Canada, on TSN, Sportsnet and CBC there are most likely grinders and non-superstars ex Canadians who thing there only 1 way to play the game and they all fall in love with guys like Toews.