You didn't seem to knock Marner down for getting "so many easy assists" to Matthews though, so double standard. Just because he makes it look easy, doesn't mean it is. And you ignore that he was 4th in goals last season too.

Using McDavid as a reason to diminish Draisaitl's accomplishments is genuinely funny when you don't apply the same standard to MacKinnon / Rantanen / Landeskog / Makar, Kane / DeBrincat, Matthews / Marner, Panarin / Fox, Barkov / Huberdeau, etc.

Yall, none of this matters, this list is invalid lol
Imagine thinking Pasta isnt a top 5 RW. He is Consensus number 3 according to literally everyone (much less top 5), and most would say he is second to only Kuch...
Like idk why i need to explain that

but yeah this post is a wash, these comments dont even matter because the post is simply wrong

^ ^ ^
This list is just factually bad, its doesnt matter guys,. Its like if someone made a list without Mcdavid in the top 5, it woudlnt be mean to say the list sucks, its just realistic

He has excellent puck control.
Speed also doesn't define a players skill, look at Peter Forsberg

Oh yeah he was only over a point per game 3 of the last 4 seasons and just under this most recent one. Completely washed player and totally not good anymore.

I am not saying he is a top 5 center anymore, he was moved to the wing. He is definitely still better than DeBrincat and Landeskog

LOL. This says everything I need to know about your hockey knowledge.

I didn't even notice Pasta not being on this list...Yikes...

debrincat and landeskog shouldnt even be there, if you think stamkos is even close to what he was you are delusional, he is not elite anymore therefore shouldnt be on these lists

All these people are arguing above and ignoring my comment lol, hey thats their problem.
The intelligent part of this website knows this ACGM is just a waste and that Pasta is number 2

Arrogance at its finest lol. “I’m right ur wrong! I’m smart you’re dumb!” Dude shut up. You’ve been blabbing on about “this list is bad, everyone knows it sucks just because pastrnak isn’t too 3” that’s you’re reasoning? One player isn’t here so it sucks. Lmao. He doesn’t even deserve to be there anyway. Marner, known setup man, had more goals than him. ALL EVEN STRENGTH. But no he deserves to be there and this whole list is a wash for one reason, and sometimes you didn’t even elaborate. “Logic_Only” LMAO.

You guys stopped reading when I said he gets a lot of easy assists and goals. These are relatively easy for superstars, like draisaitl and the others on the list, and the ones you mentioned, (Marner, Panarin, huberdeau, barkov, mackinnon). So when I say easy, you should know I mean relatively. Compared to the amount of easy assists and goals I see from the others on this list, he has a lot more of them. Like I said multiple times, it doesn’t mean he sucks. He is a very efficient player who finds spaces to get so many easy assists and goals. I literally said I have him at #6. However, compared to the players on this list, he isn’t as dynamic. He also is much worse defensively than any other centre on this list. That’s why I just cannot put him in there.

Are you referring to pietrangelo? I think you’re the only person on the planet to call him Piet. I see Petro a lot, but Piet? Sheesh. I think those three young players have clearly surpassed josi and pietrangelo.

Agree to disagree then, 1 half season doesnt define a player though imo

The only player you could make that argument about is fox. If you think the other two only had one good half season, you missed some time.

1 better half season. Josi literally won the Norris last year. Piet/Petro hasnt lost a step and still had a very good year

It’s his opinion I can respect that, I disagreed with some of the choices but that’s what makes for good conversation

Dude. Pasta is a top 5 RW. You are wrong lol
Again, its like saying McDavid isnt top 10.

Dont pull that lmaooo

He may be worse defensively, but it's hard to tell from where I'm standing. All defensive metrics are rating 5 players on-ice, there's no way to break each play out individually. So is he worse defensively or is he on a worse team? Let's have a look:

GA/60 (GF%)
Matthews: 2.01 (65.06)
MacKinnon: 2.05 (65.75)
Barkov: 2.11 (59.68)
Crosby: 2.12 (56.34)
Draisaitl: 2.17 (62.50)

The difference here is marginal, from top-to-bottom. Well within the same zip code. And Draisaitl had a better GF% than two of the 4.

GA/60 rel (GF% rel)
Draisaitl: -0.55 (+20.54)
Matthews: -0.21 (+12.03)
Barkov: -0.09 (+5.20)
Crosby: -0.07 (+1.30)
MacKinnon: +0.01 (+10.49)

Now we're getting some meat-and-potatos. We can see here that Draisaitl is FAR better defensively relative to other players on his team, better than all-comers. MacKinnon is almost exactly average defensively on the Avs, his entire value comes from the offensive side of the game.

Now, the next thing out of your mouth is going to be to give all the credit to McDavid, so we'll look at some WOWY's to preempt that fallacy. Since the numbers above are all 5v5, let's look at how often Draisaitl is with McDavid at 5v5 compared to the other players here and their team's next best scorer.

Crosby* with Guentzel: 93.9%
Matthews with Marner*: 87.3%
MacKinnon with Rantanen*: 87.1%
Draisaitl with McDavid*: 37.7%
Barkov with Huberdeau*: 12.7%

Of these guys only Crosby led his team in scoring, and only Barkov had less help than Draisaitl.

Here's a quick look at Draisaitl's defensive rates while playing with McDavid and without:

With McDavid: 17 GA in 343:12 = 2.97 GA/60
W/O McDavid: 16 GA in 567:15 = 1.69 GA/60

I'd say he was ELITE defensively last season when playing center. Here's another proof: when apart, Draisaitl sported a 57.89 GF% while McDavid got just a 50.00 GF%. McDavid had better wingers, too... it's no wonder Holland's biggest offseason acquisition was "a winger for McDavid".

So ur saying this whole list is a wash bc pastrnak (who had a worse season last year than anyone in my top 5) should be on this list? That’s a little harsh no? Until he has another Richard winning, 45+ goal season, I just can’t.

While I respect this, I’d still rather have the ppg+ selke winner, who didn’t even play with huberdeau except for the powerplay, than draisaitl. Like I keep saying, draisaitl isn’t bad, I still think he’s #6. These stats prove it.

Thats simply not true first off
and second off hell yeah, you have Crosby here lol, he was like the 10th best startistical center AT BEST last year.

your logic is deeply flawed, and your list is simply wrong

im not arguing, im telling you

He had a lower point and goal total than any top 5 RIGHT winger I had except kucherov who didn’t play, but nearly won the conn smythe. If I could put him in the left wing spot I definitely would’ve. He’s probably fourth on that list. Also, Crosby is still a top 5 centre and I shouldn’t need to tell u why. Top 4 in hart voting, 62 pts in 56 games, excellent at both ends of the ice, one of the best play drivers in the league? Come on now.

Sure, whatever. I'd rather have the guy who is +20.54 GF% rel while mostly playing with Dominic Kahun and Kailer Yamamoto than any of the non-McDavid players listed, because all of them benefited from better linemates.

Pasta isnt a LW at all,
your logic is totally wrong

stop trying, nobody agrees with you at all. Pasta is literally the number 2 RW in the world. Thats a fact.
i dont understand how you are still arguing with me, its childish and strange

Ironic since ur literally replying to me. Anyway, I said that if I had to put him in the lw spot, he would be 4th, but I know he is a RW. Anyway, you’ve never quite told me why he should be 2. I’ve told u several times why he isn’t, why is he? Tell me? Logic only…