Why should they? It’s the best players of all time, not guys who could be on the list one day. Having a high points per game by age 25 isn’t really that big of a deal since that’s the majority of his prime and he’ll probably start going downhill in a year or two. And winning does matter. If McDavid had a career-ending injury tomorrow, is he on this list? The answer is definitively no, we would just mourn what could have been. And if that’s the case, he doesn’t deserve to be on there yet.

If you want a hint at how it might go, Patrick Mahomes wasn't even on the NFL 100. Anthony Davis was 53rd on the NBA list. I totally get though with McDavid we are talking undoubtedly one of the best players ever for pure talent but we will see. Mike Trout is the best comparison for me and...Trout was 27th.

Because no one plays sports to lose, you play to win. And if you don't win, then how are you the best.

Their whole ranking is flawed and incredibly dumb if they don't take into account shorter careers for active players. Based on talent and stats, he's easily top 20 of all time already if not more. Winning would matter if he was 38 years old without a Cup, but entered his prime like 2 or 3 seasons ago.

If his career ended now, in 7th seasons he is
-4th in P/GP
-4 Art Ross
-2 Hart Memorial
-3 Ted Lindsay
-4 1st All-Star Team nominations

Mourning a "what could have been situation" would be if Connor Bedard or Moritz Seider had career-ending injuries right now, not a guy who already has more individual awards in 7 seasons than all-time greats in 20 seasons.

If I could compare it to another sport's athlete, it'd be young LeBron James. Hadn't won any team championships until age 27 but he was clearly the best player in the league by a wide margin. Now I assume the NBA ranking was made recently so most of Lebron's performances post-age 27 are included in the ranking.

There's a lot of players, but I'd have to say yes absolutely.

Why should they though? Should Auston Matthews be in that conversation because he’s 5th all time in goals per game (and 2 of the guys ahead of him played in the 20s, for less NHL games than he did)? What about Kucherov, for having the best single season points total in a 25-year span while winning 2 cups with back to back 30+ point postseasons (only 2 other players ever did that iirc)? You can cherry pick plenty of impressive things from players nearing the end of their prime. What makes them great is carrying that onwards later into their career and STILL dominating. And winning when it matters.

Except that overall, neither of Kucherov and Matthews have consistently dominated the league the way McDavid has since his Rookie+1 season. I also expect Matthews and Kucherov to be somewhere in that top 100, just not as close to the top 20 as McDavid.

The lack of activity today has got to be the calm before the storm...

I expect to go to bed at some point and return the next day to a new thread with 20 pages already filled out

Trout is clearly the best in the league one of the best ever and he hasn't won anything.

I just wanna see what we decide the new name will be for said new thread.

I was thinking "The Hockening" (since we used Electric Boogaloo for this thread and i remember a threequel to a movie called "The ____ening", which might be just a dream i had) but there has to be a joke for the beginning of the regular season

I think McDavid ends 20th or somewhere around that. Out of the 20 guys you listed I don't think I could list him above any of them. Other guys to throw in there are Recchi, 3 cups and 11th in NHL scoring during the time period. Joe Thornton, 10th I scoring no cup and not a lot of awards thanks to his prime years coming when Crosby and Ovi where the top players. Dionne is another one, top 5 in NHL scoring. Not many accolades but a great player nonetheless

I don't think Recchi is particularly close to the top. He wasn't even in NHL's top 100 a few years ago. But yeah Dionne should be 18-25 or around that. Thornton could make the top 100 as well.

If Matheson is not in the lineup tomorrow due to an injury, MTL will be starting with 3 LHD with a total of 10 NHL games experience

MTL will also be playing Kovacevic, with the team since a couple of days. That adds +4 NHL games experience

(at practice)
Guhle - Savard
Xhekaj - Wideman
Harris - Kovacevic

Since rosters are ready and the season is about to start ( minus those 2 SJ-Nsh games ) here are my can't wait to be proven deadly wrong standings predictions:

Atlantic:
1 Tampa- Cirelli being hurt to start the year sucks but they still have a very talented forward core, Tampa will continue to find a way to produce good depth scoring talent, on defence, Hedman, Sergachev and Cernak will continue to carry the load while hoping for the emergence of Cal Foote and a rebound from Myers, IF Ian Cole comes back, it would be a nice boost for them too, in net they have Vasy, don’t need to add more. Tampa will continue their dominance to claim 1st

2 Toronto- Goaltending is a big question mark but Murray-Samsonov should be a solid tandem, their defence is still good, the big 4 forwards are still there and they will get help from Bunting, Kerfoot and the possible emergence of Malgin. Toronto will continue their regular season tear with a good roster, having a better defence than Florida gets them 2nd

3 Florida- Bobrovsky and Knight will be a good tandem... at least in the regular season, that defence is meh, it's 1 Ekblad injury away from being absolute garbage, Montour, Gudas, Forsling are decent but they will need help, at forwards, it's amazing, they will most likely have 3 good forward lines though what happens when Duclair comes back is unknown. Florida will take advantage of the Bruins missing key pieces to get 3rd

4 Boston- With Marchand + McAvoy out to start the year, it will be a rough start for the Bruins, their depth will be tested but at full strength, this is easily a playoff team, good goaltending tandem, solid defense and one of the best forward lines in the league ( Marchand, Bergeron, Pasta ). Boston missing Marchand and McAvoy for part of the year will cost them 3rd but Ottawa's defence and Talbot's injury will make them finish higher than Ottawa

5 Ottawa- Talbot being hurt to start the year sucks but Forsberg-Talbot once healthy is a decent tandem, at forward, they have a good top 6 and an overall decent forward core but yikes that defence is Chabot, Zub and the hopeful emergence of Sanderson, Ottawa should be decent this year but that defence and the injury to Talbot may cost them valuable points which is how they finish 5th

6 Detroit- It will be a growing year for Detroit, that defence is Seider and the hopefully good Chiarot and Hronek, we will see if Husso can reproduce his good end of the season, their goaltending tandem isn't bad but i wouldn't expect too much from Ned and Husso, at forward, they have a solid top 6 with the additions of Perron and Copp and we will see if players like Soderblom, Veleno, Zadina can help make their forwards into a solid core. Ottawa's top 6 pushes them over Detroit but Detroit's better goaltending and defence helps them to 6th

7 Montreal- Good lord that defence sucks, at least when Matheson and Edmundson are healthy it will get a boost but yikes, in net Jake Allen is good but he will be overworked and won't be helped by his defence too much, good luck surviving Jake, you'll need it, at forward, on paper it's a decent forward core, deep but lacks that amazing top talent, a lot of players who could provide depth scoring. Jake Allen and the on paper good forward core put them over Buffalo

8 Buffalo- It will be another year for growth in Sabres land, i would not trust the old corpse of Craig Anderson and the hopefully not awful Eric Comrie as a goaltending tandem, the defence is meh, it's certainly not bad but it won't be very good either, only one of their 6 D is over 26 ( Lyubushkin ), at forward, we will see if Thompson and Skinner can show they didn't have fluke season and if players like Cozens, Mittelstadt, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs can grow into better roles, the fact that Comrie and Anderson is the tandem gives them 8th

Metro:
1. Carolina- Goaltending is good, pending they stay healthy of course though Kochetkov as a 3rd string helps alleviate the concern, defense is good, Slavin, Pesce, Skjei and Burns should all be solid, having Coghlan, de Haan and Bear as 3rd pair options is good, at forward, how Kk performs is a question mark but that is a very talented and deep forward core, imagine how that looks when Pacioretty’s back. Carolina is 1st simply due to their depth being better

2. NY Rangers- They have a very interesting forward core, will Kreider show he didn’t have a fluke year, can Kakko, Lafreniere, Kravtsov and Chytil grow, them having Panarin, Trocheck and Mika should alleviate any concerns on the younger players or Kreider repeating his performance, on defence, Fox, Lindgren, Trouba will continue to play well while Miller, Schneider and Jones should provide some good youth and growth to the bottom of the defence, of course, they have Shesty in net making them a very good team. NYR gets 2nd due to Shesterkin and me liking their forward core more

3. NY Islanders- Sorokin-Varlamov is a good tandem that will win them games, you add to that a good defence core of Pelech, Pulock, Dobson, Romanov and Mayfield and a hopefully good forward core with the likes of Barzal, Lee, Beau, Nelson, Pageau, Wahlstrom, Palmieri, Bailey and you have a very good bounceback team candidate. NYI gets 3rd due to more reliable goaltending and a more rounded defence

4. Pittsburgh- When will they die?, well not yet, because they still have a very good forward core with the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust, Rakell, Carter, Kapanen, Blueger, Heinen, their defence should also be good off of Letand and Dumoulin continuing their play and a hopeful rebound from Jeff Petry with help from Pettersson and Rutta, Ty Smith and POJ may chip in as well, in net, Jarry and Desmith should be a good tandem. Pittsburgh claims 4th due to their forward talent and Jarry

5. New Jersey- Vanecek, Blackwood, if healthy should be a decent tandem, their defence is solid with Hamilton, Graves, SIengenthaler, Marino and maybe Nemec, their forward core is decent but we will see if Nico cay stay healthy and their young forward core can continue to improve, Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Sharangovich, Mercer, Holtz will be deadly in a couple of years. 5, 6 and 7 are interchangeable

6. Columbus- goaltending should be decent, Merzilkins is good but Korpisalo isn’t very good, maybe Tarasov proves he’s the backup while Korpi’s out and helps solidify them in net, defensively, it should be decent, Werenski is very good, Gavrikov will help anchor the 2nd pair and hopefully Boqvist and Peeke continue to grow, Bean and Gudbaranson are both decent 3rd pair guys ( though Gud is overpaid ), at forward, it will be interesting to watch, they should have a good top 6 and it will be fun to see the kids like Sillinger, KJ, Chinakhov, Foudy play with Gaudreau, Voracek, Laine, Jenner, Roslovic. 5, 6 and 7 are interchangeable

7. Washington- Wilson being hurt for the first couple of months and the uncertainty of what happens with Nick Backstrom will hurt the Caps but like the Pens, they simply won’t die yet, Kuemper should be solid in net, Fehervary, Carlson, Orlov and Jensen should be decent and Ovi, Kuznetsov, Mantha, Oshie, Strome, with the possible help of McMicheal and Protas should make a decent forward core, i predict some struggle but they will fight for a WC spot. 5, 6 and 7 are interchangeable

8. Philadelphia- Goaltending isn’t great, Hart is decent but whoever the backup is, whether Ersson or Sandstrom will have to prove themselves on a bad team, defensively, Provorov, Sanheim and Deangelo will carry the load, Risto is the meme we know and love and Braun is decent, not a bad defense but they certainly aren’t good, at forward, with the injury to Couturier and not really any timeline, they better hope Hayes, Farabee, Konecny, Atkinson and JVR can fill the gap because they aren’t very good, maybe an emergence from Frost, Tippett or Noah Cates will help their depth, overall, easily the worst metro team due to their goaltending and meh forwards and defence. Philly is 8th due to being meh/bad everywhere

WC1 goes to Pittsburgh, WC2 to Boston

Steven stamkos 1st goal scorer + Eichel anytime goal scorer. Thank me later

I’m so tempted to parlay Eichel O0.5 pts + Stone O1.5 SOG + Fiala O2.5 SOG + Kings ML (+1000)

I have no idea who’s going to win the kings - VGK game. The kings are the better team but Cassidy is a great coach and he’ll have his team ready.

Kreider lost his finishing touch

In general its hard to beat vasi low as hes to big

Mid and top is where I find he has some troubles with the rare 5 hole meme

In case you haven’t heard it 1,000 times Trouba is the captain of the Rags.

He’s also a trooper, leader, grit, tough, etc. 🙄

Byfield primary assist!

Great sequence by Vilardi and Byfield on that goal

Dude is on a mission to prove the doubters wrong. Could have a big year