Draisaitl, Matthews, MacKinnon… McDavid

By JD Lagrange – Living in Canada, you almost have to be a hockey fan. While Lacrosse is, for some odd reasons, considered to be the National Sport, hockey is the passion. It’s what gets the motor ticking, the sport most followed in this beautiful and vast country. And with seven teams to choose from, you have fans everywhere. The issue? All major sports’ media outlets are located in… Toronto.

It’s the biggest market, the biggest population, the biggest advertising dollars and for those reasons, the Maple Leafs are the most talked about franchise on those networks. It certainly isn’t based on success as the Montreal Canadiens have won almost twice as many Stanley Cups. The Maple Leafs haven’t won the Cup since 1967 and haven’t even won a playoffs’ series in nearly two decades!

But with the Toronto bias, comes injustice and frustration across the nation. The other six teams get very little coverage, or the attention that they deserve. If a Leafs’ player is doing well, that’s all you hear about on those networks. Auston Matthews, last season, polarized their attention due to his 60 goals pace and eventually achievement. Yet, in Edmonton, Connor McDavid had a better season. This year, it was all about Mitch Marner and his points’ streak. But the Toronto bias is having its fair share of humble pie this season…

So on this time changing weekend, I felt compelled to set the clocks to the right time. Is Auston Matthews really in the same category as Connor McDavid as a player? Not just this season, but overall? I was under the impression that he’s not and I have set to show why… coming from someone OUTSIDE of Toronto.

I’ve chosen to compare Matthews to two other centers that are closer to his skills’ set. Just to appease the Toronto fanatics, I’ve also included McDavid’s comparables below those tables. Have a look for yourself.

THIS SEASON

DRAISAITLMACKINNONMATTHEWS
HEIGHT6’2″6’0″6’3″
WEIGHT208200205
DRAFT3rd overall 20141st overall 20131st overall 2016
GP645257
G412729
A565033
PTS977762
PTS/GP1.521.481.09
TOI/GP22:0022:2219:57
PP TOI/GP4:024:043:39
SH TOI/GP0:420:070:03
FO WON613413429
FO %53.7%45.5%52.9%
CAP HIT$8.5M$6.3M$11.64M

McDavid

GPGAPTSPTS/GPTOI/GPPP TOI/GPSH TOI/GPFO WONFO %
6664701241.8822:423:591:1841951.9%

So when considering all aspects, the rankings, this season, are:

  1. Connor McDavid
  2. Leon Draisaitl
  3. Nathan MacKinnon
  4. Auston Matthews

LAST 3 SEASONS

Predictable as always, you know that Leafs’ fans will claim as an excuse that their boy is not having a good season and the comparison isn’t fair. So in all fairness, let’s include last year too. In fact, to get an even clearer picture, why don’t we include the year before too?

DRAISAITLMACKINNONMATTHEWS
GP200165182
G12779130
A164151104
PTS291230234
PTS/GP1.461.391.29
TOI/GP22:1221:1620:40
PP TOI/GP4:013:563:19
SH TOI/GP0:460:040:05
FO WON2,0721,0341,570
FO %54.1%46.1%54.0%

McDavid

GPGAPTSPTS/GPTOI/GPPP TOI/GPSH TOI/GPFO WONFO %
2021312213521.7422:183:560:321,29752.1%

The past three seasons combined, Connor McDavid has scored one more goal than Auston Matthews. Granted, he has managed to better survive the grind of a NHL season, having played more games. For the fact that he’s been healthier and outscored the Toronto protege is an eye opener. Points-wise? It’s not even close.

The rankings for the past three seasons are as follows:

  1. Connor McDavid
  2. Leon Draisaitl
  3. Nathan MacKinnon & Auston Matthews (tie)

PLAYOFFS

Many players are catalogued with their playoffs’ performances, in addition to their regular season. Nathan MacKinnon is the only one of those players with a Stanley Cup but let’s look at their personal contribution to the success of their team, career-wise.

DRAISAITLMACKINNONMATTHEWS
GP377039
G184117
A415216
PTS599333
PTS/GP1.591.330.85
TOI/GP22:0221:4421:19
PP TOI/GP3:573:593:18
SH TOI/GP0:370:030:02
FO WON323415335
FO %48.9%46.0%53.3%

McDavid

GPGAPTSPTS/GPTOI/GPPP TOI/GPSH TOI/GPFO WONFO %
372134551.4923:333:570:5117545.6%

The playoffs’ rankings are:

  1. Leon Draisaitl
  2. Connor McDavid
  3. Nathan MacKinnon
  4. Auston Matthews

CONCLUSION

It is clear, reading comments on social media, that few Eastern fans follow the Western Conference teams closely. For example, I don’t know how often I’ve read Leafs’ fans claiming that Matthews is a 200-foot player while downplaying McDavid’s defensive game. It cannot be further from the truth. This season, McDavid is used regularly on the penalty kill even, something Matthews, Draisaitl and MacKinnon don’t do.

I felt that last year’s votes for the Hart and Lindsay Awards were an insult to McDavid, who was (and still is) the best player in the world. I get it, just like in the times of Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby’s prime seasons, some people (players included) get tired of always praising the same guy over and over again. So they try to be “different” and “imaginative”, and try changing things up. Last season, too many were mesmerized by the 60 goals, in my opinion. Matthews was the best goals’ scorer. He was not the best player.

In fact, Matthews has never been the very best player in the NHL and he doesn’t have what it takes to ever be. This is McDavid’s league and guys like Draisaitl, MacKinnon and yes, Matthews, are all a notch below the Oilers’ number 97. Let’s see what the upcoming Connor (Bedard) can do one day…

By The Numbers: Draisaitl vs Matthews

By JD Lagrange – It doesn’t take much for the never-ending rivalry between Toronto and Montreal, whether it’s about politics or hockey, to be fuelled. When it comes to their NHL team, we’re likely talking about the two biggest fanbases in the league and with it, come more opinions and, let’s call a spade a spade, stupid and trolling comments.

To make matters worse, the three major anglophone media outlets covering hockey – TSN, Sportsnet and CBC – are all based in… Toronto. And boy do their lean heavily on the Maple Leafs. That in itself is enough to make the Leafs the most hated team by rival Canadian fanbases.

One of the biggest proof of this one-sided bias is the push to try to make of Auston Matthews the best player on all Canadian teams. Few outside Toronto (or their fanbase) think that, but they sure try to convince us otherwise, don’t they? Just in Edmonton alone, there are two players not getting anywhere close to the credit they deserve. One of these players is miles ahead of Matthews. His name? You might have heard of a guy named Connor McDavid. Then, the Oilers line-up the equivalent of Matthews in Leon Draisaitl.

With Edmonton’s playoffs’ push, many fans out East are finally noticing Edmonton’s two-headed monster. This further exposes the media’s bias towards the Leafs’ player. Oh don’t get me wrong, he’s an excellent goals’ scorer. But he’s nowhere in the category of McDavid. You want to compare Toronto’s jewel to someone and make a fair comparison. Look no further than Draisaitl.

Last season

We will compare the two players in three parts, to be fair. First, let’s look at what both Draisaitl and Matthews have done this past season.

DRAISAITLMATTHEWS
6’2″HEIGHT6’3″
208 lbsWEIGHT205 lbs
3rd overall 2014DRAFT1st overall 2016
80GP73
55G60
55A46
110PTS106
1.38PTS/GP1.45
22:21TOI/GP20:37
3:50PP TOI/GP3:06
0:57SH TOI/GP0:04
885FO WON691
53.3FO %56.2
$8.5MCAP HIT$11.64

For those who claim that Draisaitl benefits from playing with McDavid, the following should be an eye opener and completely destroys that theory. Here are the percentages of ice time at even strength for both players:

  • This season, Matthews has spent 60.5% of the time with Mitch Marner on his line.
  • On the other hand, Draisaitl has played only 24% of the time with Connor McDavid.

Last three years

One season doesn’t make a career, right? Let’s move on to the second level of comparison. Here are the two players’ regular season’s stats for the past three seasons combined.

DRAISAITLMATTHEWS
207GP195
129G148
175A104
304PTS252
1.47PTS/GP1.29
22:24TOI/GP20:59
3:57PP TOI/GP3:10
0:50SH TOI/GP0:05
2,120FO WON1,647
53.5FO %54.6

Playoffs

Now if you add the playoffs, the third and last part of the comparison, the gap gets even deeper in favour of Draisaitl.

DRAISAITLMATTHEWS
32GP39
18G17
31A16
49PTS33
1.53PTS/GP0.85
21:47TOI/GP21:19
4:01PP TOI/GP3:18
0:37SH TOI/GP0:02
285FO WON335
48.8FO %53.3

Prior to tonight’s game five against the Calgary Flames, the Oilers have played 11 games. McDavid leads the playoffs with 25 points, followed by Draisaitl with 22. The next player (Evander Kane and Nikita Kucherov) are seven points back with 15 each!

So when you hear the Toronto media ram your brain with Matthews this, and Matthews that, when they try to make you believe that he’s as good or even better than Connor McDavid, do as many of us do: smile, shake your head, and know that they’re just feeding the ego of Toronto, their advertisers’ market. As clearly, he’s an excellent player but more in the category of Leon Draisaitl.

More reading…