[Jonas Siegel] Meneurs des principaux points de la LNH cette saison : 1. Nikita Kucherov : 76 2. Auston Matthews : 68 3. Nathan MacKinnon : 67 4. JT Miller : 65 5. Connor McDavid : 62 5. David Pastrnak : 62
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Shuman2100
@Maple Leafs de Toronto
9 Comments
Better format:
1. Nikita Kucherov: 76
2. Auston Matthews: 68
3. Nathan MacKinnon: 67
4. J.T. Miller: 65
5. Connor McDavid: 62
5. David Pastrnak: 62
Kuch got four points the other night. One was an ENG, and two of his three assists were extremely chincey. He’s an unbelievable player but I wish hockey only counted primary assists
Maybe I’m biased but I’d say Matthews putting up this many primary points and 52/68 of them being goals makes him easily the most Harty of the bunch.
I know there is a ton of talk about the M(a)c’s (McDavid and MacKinnon) being a tier above everyone else in the league. I think when you watch their play and how they skate, I get it.
That said, players who command and hold the puck are bound to get more points (especially secondary assists) by proxy since they are pretty much guaranteed to have their puck on their stick every play their line is on the ice and attacking. It makes the inflated point totals of the top 5 points leaders every year seem a bit disingenuous.
It’s impressive when players like Matthews and Pasta are near the tops of these lists because they aren’t even the primary puck handlers on their line.
I know a lot of people don’t like advanced stats but currently using evolving hockeys GAR and xGAR model:
Mackinnon: 24.6 GAR, 24.1 xGAR
Matthews: 24.2 GAR, 36.2 xGAR
Kucherov: 18.4 GAR, 23 xGAR
McDavid: 23 GAR, 19 xGAR
Matthews is having a phenomenon season, and the fact that he’ll probably lose some Hart trophy votes because dinosaurs like Mark Spector don’t like stats that require knowledge beyond that of a third grade level to understand kinda sucks lol
MacKinnon and Kucherov are massive frauds.
Matthews keeps pace with all these guys but he gets punished because he plays on the team that consistently ranks in the bottom 10 in powerplay opportunities.
The Leafs have never ranked higher than 16th in PP opportunities given in any year they’ve had Matthews – his rookie season, which I’m not surprised at because they were expected to be a bad team that year and didn’t have the « Team is Too Good Tax ». Meanwhile, Tampa has never ranked lower than 15th in the league in PP opportuities – this year. Edmonton has never had a season where they ranked lower than us in PP opportunities given despite being a worse posession team for most of that time. Boston, ditto. They’ve only been outside the Top 10 in 2 of the last 8 seasons in power play opportunities given. Colorado has finished first in powerplay opportunities given FIVE seasons in a row, a streak that was broken last year they were « only » 12th and this year they’re leading the league again. Vancouver, guess where they are in PP opportunities this year in when JT Miller, Elias Petterson and Quinn Hughes are all having career years? 6th.
Last season when McDavid had 64 goals, the Oilers had the third most powerplay opportunities in the league. This year they’re in the bottom 10, what a coincidence right?
Pastrnak who also had a career high in goals that year played on the team with the 4th most powerplay opportunities. This year, his production has dropped because the Bruins are only the 12th ranked team in powerplay goals given.
Sam Reinhart who’s on pace for a career season in goals – 53 goals I believe, plays on a team with the 7th most powerplay opportunities given.
The year Matthews hit 60, he missed 9 games and the Leafs were 21st in powerplay opportunities given and he was still 4th in the league in PP goals. This year, Matthews is on pace for another career season despite being on a team with the 27th most powerplay opportunities in the league. He does not get put in the advantageous position to score as often as those other guys do and guess what, he’s still second in powerplay goals scored this year.
The Leafs powerplay is currently hitting at a 29% clip. Imagine if we had 30 more powerplays this season. Matthews likely hits 80 with 30 more PPs.
That’s a fun list. We’ll see what the playoffs add…
Curious, what’s the ranking if G are worth 3, PA = 2, and SA = 1?
Edit: Its Matthews 196, MacK 197, Kucherov 218