Quoting: exo2769
Nylander's holdout affected him though...no? Not being with the team. Not building chemistry. And Marner gets a pass because he produces and plays a 2-way game, steals the puck away form the opponent far more and actually plays the PK. Those are all big differentiators. I hate to say it again, but this is the EXACT debate Hawks fans have with Saad. Obviously different styles of play, but both are possession beasts. Nylander's great at zone entry and better passing. Saad is great at driving the net and a good defensive forward. Both between $6-$7M. Both have a hard time putting up points. Somehow Saad is a cap dump and Nylander's somehow seriously getting compared to a guy that put up 94 freakin points last year AND some Selke love too. Somehow it's not just joking.
This is why I posed the early question...what's "deserve" supposed to mean.
Okay lets go over this point by point.
His hold out affected him last season.
Yes it did, for the first 13 or 15 games or whatever he only had 1 point as he was trying to get back up to speed. After that he scored at a little bit better than a 60 point pace. So sure it did affect him holding out but it didn't hurt him, just slowed him for a little bit.
Marner gets a pass because he produces.
Not at 5v5 so far this season, and over their careers, Nylander has been the better 5v5 scorer while playing less minutes.
Marner is a 2 way player.
There actually isn't a lot of supporting evidence for this, he's really not great defensively and doesn't create as many turnovers as Nylander does who has been one of the better take away wingers over his career.
Marner kills penalties.
Sure but the Leafs PK isn't good so what are you really praising him for?
Marner did not get any Selke consideration, that is an entirely made up sentiment.
Bringing Saad into this has no baring so I won't comment on that.
Your response is a good piece of ammo though for me. Why? Because you are saying a bunch of stuff that is commonly held as correct without any real supporting evidence. Nylander is bad defensively and Marner is a two way player. This is a fact in the minds of most people but statistically speaking holds no merit. If you were to say Marner is more engaged in the defensive zone than Nylander, that would be correct to say. What is also correct to say, is that in the offensive zone and neutral zone, Nylander is the better defensive player.
So what does Nylander deserve? Not to be called overrated all the time by people who 1) don't ever watch him play and 2) haven't looked into any of the things they are using to call him overrated.