Actually, that is a good stat to know. I think the only point to count should be the goal. What do you think?
- HockeyLifer

I don't think so. I think on a lot of EN goals, the player that is able to get the puck out of their zone while still having control of the puck, is what creates the goal. He then passes it to a guy completely open and you hope he doesn't pull a Patrik Stefan.

If it was so much easier to do back then; then why didn’t way more guys do it?
- TurdFergeson

They did, way more 50 goal scores 60 goal scorers and 70 goal scorers.
Hell Rick Vaive scored 50 three times.

Connor McDavid is more impressive, Matthews plays in the weakest division in hockey
- TheMussel

I don't think so. I think on a lot of EN goals, the player that is able to get the puck out of their zone while still having control of the puck, is what creates the goal. He then passes it to a guy completely open and you hope he doesn't pull a Patrik Stefan.
- r8edr

Good point! And I love the Stefan reference! Forgot about that!

Clickbait question.
Everyone knows McD's 100pts in just over 50 games is the bigger accomplishment.
Every Leaf fan knows this too.

40 goals in 49 games is pretty close to that accomplishment but McD wins.

This is a great arguement though.
Here's my take.
At this point in time, one is the best at one thing and the other is the best at another thing.
Neither are best at 2 different things.

I don't get the Mathews is great defensively stuff. I've personally never thought that watching him. He is no Bergeron or Kopitar. Even mentioning Mathews among those guys is rediculous.

McDavid isn't either. THIS year McDavid has been the better 2 way player over Matthews. Tons of take a ways and some very noticable plays down low a bit of PK time and has started hitting more. This year I don't know how anyone can say Mathews is better defensively than McDavid. Last year sure maybe. I don't think Mathews is even trusted on the PK with his "defensive" play.

My point is neither are great defensively and neither should be getting a lot of praise over the other. You know who does tho? Leon Draisaitl. Leon absolutely can be named in the same breath as Bergeron and Kopitar AND he scores AND he has far more points than Mathews.

What Matthews is doing for goal scoring is prime Ovechkin. Absolutely amazing and will get some hardware for it.

What McDavid is doing is pure otherworldly generational stuff.

Lost in the duffle is the reining Hart trophy and hopefully selke finalist performance of Leon Draisaitl. Their is a strong argument that what Leon is doing this year surpasses Matthews due to be the far superior two way player to both while putting up massive points as well.

Ps: please don't say Draisaitl is a product of McDavid. Mathews is more a product of Marner than Draisaitl is McDavid without question.
- Aerchon

Agreed.

They did, way more 50 goal scores 60 goal scorers and 70 goal scorers.
Hell Rick Vaive scored 50 three times.
- bobbyisno1

Don't forget Gary Leeman. His 50 goals seaon had a huge impact on the future of the club.

Sorry, but neither of them would have accomplished these things in a regular season format facing higher quality competition on a regular basis.

While I still expect the two of them along with MacKinnon to compete for the scoring title every year, you WILL NOT see these kinds of numbers again once they return to the regular format.
- Rinosaur

Matthews has scored around 1.05 PPG and has never scored more than 80 points in an entire season.

McDavid has scored around 1.40 PPG, has scored over 100 points thrice, and scored 96 and 97 in the other two, with the other being a shortened season.

I can see McDavid and MacKinnon contending for the scoring title, however, Matthews can't be in the same breath in terms of scoring titles.

What about McJohnny?

Don't forget Gary Leeman. His 50 goals seaon had a huge impact on the future of the club.
- r8edr

That trade for Gilmour was brilliant. Riser gets taken!

I love that you think you had a mic drop moment, but you literally proved nothing. MacKinnon is not part of the discussion. I simply threw him in the conversation anecdotally for top players in the league.

Soooo, what you said does not negate the fact that how they perform in their division IS NOT relative to what would happen against the rest of the league.

Thanks for stopping by.
- Rinosaur

You know I love ya Rino, but you are buying into the idea that the North is so much weaker. You don't know that.

Connor McDavid is more impressive, Matthews plays in the weakest division in hockey
- TheMussel

Matthews is a 3rd tier player.
This has been proven on these very boards

We all know McDavid is the better player. He is the best in the league, by a fair margin. Ek is trolling us, as usual.

You know I love ya Rino, but you are buying into the idea that the North is so much weaker. You don't know that.
- Aetherial

It’s hard to gauge much of anything and yes, nobody can know anything for sure, but we do know there are a ton of teams that are higher caliber and will be more regular competition for them.

More impressed with Matthew's season to be honest, though both are lighting it up.

Out of the two, if I need to win a game I'll take Matthew's. If I want to win a fantasy league I'll take McDavid. Let's see if they keep it up come playoff time.

Toronto and Edmonton's best competition are each other and they're not exactly top defensive teams. The dropoff after them is steep. WPG and MTL are pretty mediocre.

Colorado, Vegas, Tampa, Carolina, Florida, Boston, Pittsburgh, NYR and Washington are all equal if not better than Toronto or Edmonton. Let's not forget Dallas and Nashville are unlikely to repeat this type of season.

They aren't going to put up those kind of numbers when all those teams come back in the fold.
- Rinosaur

You're absolutely correct. Up until this season, AM34 was maybe a 20 goal guy, and McDavid was basically good for 70~75 points in a full 82 game schedule. Glad you're pointing this out to us all

McDavid has 65 assists. Marner has 66 points. He's the highest scoring player not named Draisaitl or McDavid.

Great that Matthews is scoring goals, but, he's a one dimensional player and isn't carrying a team on his back.

This is a no brainer.
- umcolin

Well, I would agree that McDavid 100 points is the bigger achievement, I would disagree with your assertion that Matthews is a one dimensional player...that would be more a McDavid thing. How does a guy rack up 100 points and only end up being +25? One dimensional play is how. Austin Matthews has nearly identical +/- with only 67 points. Then look at zone starts McDavid starts in the O-Zone 75% of the time. One of the highest in the league. In fact if you look at most advanced stats McDavid is below Matthews in anything related to playing Defensive Hockey.

This is an idiotic take.

Oranges are way better than apples.
- Atomic Wedgie

Pfft! Whatever dude. Apples are way more versatile. Apple pie. Apple fritters. Apple cider. What do oranges have other than juice??

That trade for Gilmour was brilliant. Riser gets taken!
- K-man25

Riser didn’t have a choice. Gilmour was a predator and the owner told him to get rid of him ASAP for anything.

You're absolutely correct. Up until this season, AM34 was maybe a 20 goal guy, and McDavid was basically good for 70~75 points in a full 82 game schedule. Glad you're pointing this out to us all
- ChonDerry

The sad part is that people will actually believe this narrative.

Pfft! Whatever dude. Apples are way more versatile. Apple pie. Apple fritters. Apple cider. What do oranges have other than juice??
- TurdFergeson

Soccer moms to carry them around

Toronto and Edmonton's best competition are each other and they're not exactly top defensive teams. The dropoff after them is steep. WPG and MTL are pretty mediocre.

Colorado, Vegas, Tampa, Carolina, Florida, Boston, Pittsburgh, NYR and Washington are all equal if not better than Toronto or Edmonton. Let's not forget Dallas and Nashville are unlikely to repeat this type of season.

They aren't going to put up those kind of numbers when all those teams come back in the fold.
- Rinosaur

At the same time they don't get to shoot on the Flyers, Wings, Sabres, Devils, Jackets, Hawks, Sharks and Ducks..

Every division has weak teams...

Matthews.

Harder to score goals in that league

No such thing as secondary goals

GPG is insane good

Absolutely not poo pooing on McJesus at all, but he has a darn good passer AND scorer to play with...Marner is insane good at dishing but has a 12 yr olds shot and doesn’t finish even close to Zi German, and though Marner better passer the margin is slimmer. Draistle MUCH better finisher Marner better passer. Although Mariners hands on that goal last night was crazy.

Oils PP also much better... not McDavids problem that he plays on better PP but those pts add up quick.

That said I enjoy watching McJesus play more that Matthews. I like a the speed.

You're absolutely correct. Up until this season, AM34 was maybe a 20 goal guy, and McDavid was basically good for 70~75 points in a full 82 game schedule. Glad you're pointing this out to us all
- ChonDerry

Not even close to what I said, but oooook.

In term's of ability, Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer in hockey history. He's never done 50-50. That so called bench-mark isn't relevant in today's game.
- Izzo

Based on what?