Quoting: mhockey91
I can think probably think of 20 D who are better than McAvoy atm. I can’t think of 20 Centres who are better than Eichal. Not a knock on McAvoy. He’s only 22 years old and he’ll probably get there. I’m just saying Eichal already is at that elite level. And a centre is more valuable
Last 3 years at 5v5 among all d-men with 1,000 minutes
SA/60 - 7th
GA/60 - 34th (slightly better than Hedman)
SCA/60 - 16th (slightly better than Suter & Gio)
HDCA/60 - 36th (slightly better than Klingberg & Hedman)
HDGA/60 - 46th (tied w/ Gio)
This is while being his first 3 years in the league (still only 22yr old) and playing with a d-partner that might be one of the slowest skaters in the league and is 40+ years old. McAvoy gets overlooked a bit because he doesn't put up offensive numbers, but he also doesn't see much PP time because of Krug. At 5v5 though, McAvoy over the last 3 years is T-18th in points along with Ellis/Slavin and T-10th in assist with Barrie.
Now I'm not going to debate where he ranks because honestly its subjective. At the end of the day though, over the last 3 seasons McAvoy has been a legit #1 d-man and one of the better d-men in the NHL.