Avalanche Roundtable: How good is Nathan MacKinnon?

It’s been a wild ride following Nathan MacKinnon’s career but at times it feels like he’s almost been taken for granted because ‘the next big thing’ is always around the corner.

When MacKinnon finally broke out from underachieving and frustrating 50-point player into the superstar who pushes (but doesn’t quite get…yet) 100 points in a season, he was joined by the surprise of Mikko Rantanen being the Robin to his Batman.

Then came Cale Makar, who airdropped in during the postseason and now has become the apple of the eye of many around the league, not just in Colorado. Meanwhile, MacKinnon continues his run of dominance.

This brings us to today’s topic: Just how good is Nathan MacKinnon? If you were building a roster for one season (so age doesn’t matter) and there was no cap (so disregard contract status) and the goal was to win the Stanley Cup, how many players would you take before you got to MacKinnon?

AJ: To tackle this, there are a few obvious decisions to be made. I’m not taking a winger or a goaltender ahead of a dominant center and right now even if I tried to make an argument for a defenseman, I don’t know who I’d nominate. That makes this a three-man race with McDavid the obvious frontrunner. He’s a hockey robot who is on a different level than everyone else on the planet.

Beyond that comes the Cole Harbour question: Crosby or MacKinnon? Crosby has won three Stanley Cups and is the better all-around player while MacKinnon is still on the ascent as he chases his first championship. The developed two-way game of Crosby is too good for me to pass up in a one-season sprint so I’ll take him but it ended up being closer than I expected when I really sat down to think about it. MacKinnon is definitely third with Leon Draisaitl still chasing from behind (something he does plenty of in games because he still sucks defensively and is why he’s fourth).

Evan: To me, there’s no question he’s a top-three player in the world. I could see the argument of taking him over Crosby due to age and explosiveness offensively, but I would still take Crosby. Syd is still just one year removed from a 100 point season and is quite a bit better defensively. He also has shown the ability to lift his teammates and linemates up above what their expected ceiling is. MacKinnon took some big strides in that department this year when he had to go extended periods playing with guys like Donskoi and Calvert and making them much better, but I’ll still take Crosby over him…at the moment.

To me, McDavid is a no-brainer. That guy is a freak of nature and the things he does cannot be touched by anyone else. I love Kucherov but I’ll always default to the center in these situations. I go MacK at three behind McDavid and Crosby, and I think MacKinnon has done more than enough to justify that three spot in the league. He is that good, and we should not take for granted that we get to watch a top-three player in the world every night.

Rudo: There is a solid argument to be made that MacKinnon is a top-three player in the league right now. The only player that is a surefire pick in front of him is McDavid. The only other player to outproduce him over the last three seasons is Kucherov who is the only true wing in my top five. Then you can round out the list with Draisaitl and Crosby (or Malkin, pick your poison). With Draisaitl on his way to a Hart Trophy this year and some of his best work coming when McDavid was out of the lineup, I do think he gets the nod over MacKinnon today. The rest is a toss-up.

Crosby will bring you the most defensive acumen but his scoring has slipped just a touch out of the true ultimate high-end range. Kucherov has had the benefit of being a winger on one of the most stacked offensive teams in the last decade. I’m taking MacKinnon at three, his ability to drive play and be a true stand-alone superstar is too great and has him as part of the cohort on new generation greats as those who came before start to age out. Even if you have MacK at the back of the top-5 that still surrounds him with shoo-in Hall of Famers, which is still pretty lofty company.