Necas is a 70+ point producer that's 6'2, the fastest skater in the NHL, and is prime to explode in a system that doesn't require him to play Selke level defense... Staal and Fast have both been awful this year and Drury I can go either way, I think he'd be a fine 4C, but Lily would fill the gap on the backend.

If Necas ever actually played Selke level defence (or even above average defence like Caufield has this season), then I'd buy that argument more. As is, Necas is probably benefiting far more getting cushy matchups with strong teammates and there's no reason to expect he'd even be this good on another team.

And if you want Carolina to get rid of their insanely tough minutes table setting line, then I guess that's up to you, but I imagine Carolina's front office is smarter than that.

Necas is above average defensively, what? Cushy matchups he gets by playing with the second powerplay unit, the top line, all while tasked with zone entries? Necas is hands down the better player here and he'd be even better where he doesn't have a leash on him. That is not questionable. Rod's system kills offensive talent, that is known.

Not get rid of the line, make it better. Staal's sucked, give KK the spot. He's been better defensively, offensively and in transition this year than Staal. Fast has not done anything. He works hard, but you can get that way cheaper, look at Stefan Noesen. No need to have them next year

At the same age necas had a career high of 16 goals 41 points and a career ppg of .58

Caufield has 2 seasons with more points than that 3 20+ goal seasons and a ppg of .72 .

So ya signifigantly worse than caufield

Love how you account for Caufield's season that was destroyed by the pandemic but not Necas. Necas has 3 60+ point pace seasons and one 70+ point pace season, this is Caufield's first 60+ point pace season.

You make it sound like being tasked with zone entries is hard to find. And Necas gets an extreme Ozone usage push and rarely plays other teams top players at 5v5, especially relative to who he plays with. That's so far from having a leash on. He's as textbook a sheltered point producing forward as there is in the NHL.

Necas is a really good player, but it seems like you're selectively making opinions on him, other Canes and other players in the NHL on a very limited look of stats and not at all watching them play.

Do you not understand how ppg works? He put up points less frequently by a solid margin than caufield did.

And this is Caufield's 2nd 60+ pace season which is more than necas had at the same age

What...? This is Caufield's 3rd full season in the NHL. As a rookie, he had a 52 point pace with 43 points in 67 games. That's a .64 PPG pace. He followed that up with 36 points in 46 games. A .78 PPG rate. This year, he's got a .78 PPG rate...

Necas, over the same time span, has a 0.5 PPG rate, a 0.86 PPG rate, and a 0.76 PPG rate. He's got that while being better defensively, a better skater, better in transition, AND while not playing top line minutes or top powerplay. Necas is CLEARLY the superior player here, stop it.

Have you ever watched a Necas zone entry? His skating ability is ridiculous. He's in something like the 98th percentile for successful zone entries, and he's still a 70+ point producer. What's your point here? All you said there is you don't understand Necas' biggest asset

Yeah, but the only issue with that is the Leafs have a bigger gap on the backend... And Lilly's cheap+under RFA control... With 0 NHL ready RHD signed to an NHL contract next year

I don't see the Leafs trading Lilly only to try and find a similar player in FA

And he is OLDER. at the same age as caufield is now he was a WORSE player.

Necas is the significantly BETTER player. How do you not get this? This is Caufield's career high in points and he's STILL not on pace to match what Necas did last year, hence he is WORSE. He's injury prone, he's tiny, he's one dimentional, and he is the WORSE player. This isn't a debate, it's a fact

Last year for necas is still a year older. Are you really not smart enough to understand young players improve. Caufield by every metric is ahead of the curve that necas set.

And are you really not smart enough to understand that players can have career years and never see the light of day again? Do I need to point out Alex Galchenyuk or are you capable of remembering that? By every metric, Necas beats Caufield. You want to go back to when they were the same age, go for it. Necas' underlyings dominate still. At that age, Necas was still on the third line, and he's playing OUT OF POSITION. He's a natural center. Are you really not smart enough to see why he's the better player here?

Caufield since the calender flipped to 2022 is a .8 ppg player. Thats 2.5 seasons. Necas is a .72 over that time. If anyone is a 1 year wonder its necas because hes below caufields ppg again this year

Necas also doesn't play top line minutes and actually has a better points/60 minutes played this year than Caufield. Since the all-star break, Necas is a PPG player. He's shown last year wasn't a one-year wonder. Caufield hasn't. Necas better. Conversation over!

One dimensional was last year. He's worked on his passing game and his defensive game this year

Necas is still overall better

The difference between Necas and Caufield defensively is almost as close as the difference between them offensively. Necas isn’t very good defensively.

Also, at the same age, Caufield had a better ppg than Necas in every single season he played. He is signed long term and has been a better goal scorer. He is also better this year while coming off an injury and struggling offensively.

I’m not a Caufield fan, but it’s clear he is the superior player between him and Necas.

Op also keep using wrong stats (for example, when he stated Necas’ ppg over his first 3 years) and imaginary facts (for example, Caufield has only one 60 pts pace season). He is extremely biased. He even said Jarvis had a better ppg than Caufield.

This is outdated. Just like Caufield has worked on his defense, so has Necas. While Caufield is still bad but not among the worst in the league for metrics anymore, Necas is now average defensively.

Jarvis has a better PPG rate than Caufield... may want to check that. AND Jarvis is a year younger.

Both metrics improved, but they are both pretty close average

Also, I don’t know what stats you are watching, but here is Jarvis’ stats in his 3 years in the league :

17 goals, 23 assists in 68 games. 0.58 ppg

14 goals, 25 assists in 82 games. 0.475 ppg

27 goals, 30 assists in 72 games. 0.79 ppg

Overall ppg : 0,61

Here is Caufield’s stats :

23 goals, 20 assists in 67 games. 0.64 ppg

26 goals, 10 assists in 46 games. 0.78 ppg

20 goals, 35 assists in 70 games. 0.785 ppg

Overall ppg : 0.72


If you want age comparable here it is :

Jarvis at 21 and 22 : 0.51 ppg

Caufield at 21 and 22 : 0.68 ppg

It’s not even close

You literally just proved the age 21 season Jarvis had a .79 ppg rate while Caufield at the same age had a .78.... what are you talking about?

But one year before, Jarvis had a 0.475 while Caufield had a 0.64. Jarvis at 21 also played a season more and the difference between them at 21 is 0.01, wich in a season, translate into not even a point. So yeah, big difference. However, at 20, the difference between them translate into 13,5 pts. Jarvis doesn’t have better age ajusted production and it’s quite clear

And Jarvis is still outproducing Caufield this year... what's your point? So, you want point pace when it works in favor of Caufield like in the case of Necas, but want to ignore it when it goes against Caufield? Which is it, you can't have it both ways. Jarvis has a better PPG rate, but you want to go back a year. Okay, so why doesn't that work for Necas and his 70 point season last year? Stop talking now, Caufield is inferior to both players and it's clear you're going to try to spin anything you can to fit your narrative.