John Scott Has an Outrageous Take on Connor McDavid
Retired NHL 'All-Star' John Scott still makes waves in and around the league even in retirement. Via his podcast, Dropping the Gloves, Scott still offers his two-cents on all things NHL, and occasionally his takes catch on; for better or worse.
Recently, he had a take on the NHL's best player, Connor McDavid, that caught lots of attention league-wide. In building his ideal, Stanley Cup-winning lineup, one would think that McDavid would be somewhere in the top-2, maybe 3 players. Right?
Not for John Scott, apparently...
Yikes, pretty hot take.
One must assume Scott is considering all factors available to GMs; cap-hit, track record, etc. Even so, excluding Connor McDavid (55 points in 37 playoff games) from any top-five list is a hard take to defend. Salary is probably the strongest point of support in Scott's argument, so let's explore that.
McDavid is actually on one of the fairest deals of any player in the NHL if we're going off of relative points. As of now, McDavid is on pace for 153 points in '22-23. Taking his $12.5 million salary, that's ~$81,700 per point. Per CapFriendly, McDavid ranks 257th out of 703 NHLers in dollars-per-point efficiency so far this season.
So as far as value goes, Connor McDavid is as good a buy as any, even with his exorbitant rate of pay.
Now that we've taken care of that point, the rest of Scott's argument sort of falls apart, doesn't it?
Connor McDavid is the best player in the world. He led the playoffs in scoring last season despite only playing 3 series. And he's on a relatively team-friendly deal.
Not much else to really cover...
| POLL | ||
DÉCEMBRE 28 | 267 ANSWERS John Scott Has an Outrageous Take on Connor McDavid Is John Scott right or wrong on this take about Connor McDavid? | ||
| Right | 98 | 36.7 % |
| Wrong | 126 | 47.2 % |
| See results | 43 | 16.1 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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APRIL 22, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Sean Couturier | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Noah Juulsen | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Seeler | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sidney Crosby | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jamie Drysdale | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Porter Martone | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noel Acciari | - | - | - | |
| Denver Barkey | - | - | - | |
| Justin Brazeau | - | - | - | |
| Noah Cates | - | - | - | |
| Yegor Chinakhov | - | - | - | |
| Connor Clifton | - | - | - | |
| Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | - | - | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | - | - | |
| Samuel Girard | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Sabres | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 109 | |
| Lightning | 82 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 106 | |
| Canadiens | 82 | 48 | 24 | 10 | 106 | |
| Bruins | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 | |
| Senators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 99 | |
| Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 | |
| Panthers | 82 | 40 | 38 | 4 | 84 | |
| Maple Leafs | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Hurricanes | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 113 | |
| Penguins | 82 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 98 | |
| Flyers | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 98 | |
| Capitals | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 95 | |
| Blue Jackets | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | |
| Islanders | 82 | 43 | 34 | 5 | 91 | |
| Devils | 82 | 42 | 37 | 3 | 87 | |
| Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 82 | 55 | 16 | 11 | 121 | |
| Stars | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 112 | |
| Wild | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 104 | |
| Mammoth | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Blues | 82 | 37 | 33 | 12 | 86 | |
| Predators | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 86 | |
| Jets | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 | |
| Blackhawks | 82 | 29 | 39 | 14 | 72 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 95 | |
| Oilers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 93 | |
| Ducks | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Kings | 82 | 35 | 27 | 20 | 90 | |
| Sharks | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | |
| Kraken | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | |
| Flames | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| Canucks | 82 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 58 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||