{"id":108746,"date":"2025-07-31T23:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T23:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/108746\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T23:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T23:12:09","slug":"nathan-mackinnon-thinks-jaromir-jagr-is-a-better-player-than-alex-ovechkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/108746\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan MacKinnon thinks Jaromir Jagr is a better player than Alex Ovechkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan MacKinnon is a Stanley Cup champion and one of the best forwards of his generation. He\u2019s also played against both Alex Ovechkin<\/strong> and Jaromir Jagr<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So he\u2019s as good as any to adjudge who\u2019s a better player between the two Slavic legends. (Which is obviously Ovechkin.)<\/p>\n

MacKinnon revealed his pick while playing a game called Who\u2019s better? for NHL social media. After selecting Jagr over Mark Messier, MacKinnon had to choose between \u201cThe Great 8\u201d and \u201cThe Mullet\u2019d One.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transcript goes like this:<\/p>\n

\n

Producer:<\/strong> Jagr or Alex Ovechkin?<\/p>\n

MacKinnon:<\/strong> [4 seconds go by as he stares into the abyss]\n<\/p>\n

Uhhhhhh. That\u2019s really hard\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go Jagr.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The rest of the video goes as follows:<\/p>\n

MacKinnon picks his BFF, Sidney Crosby<\/a>, over Jagr, Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoyal,\u201d MacKinnon said of his admiration for his brother from another Nova Scotian mother.<\/p>\n

Crosby\u2019s reign then finally ended when he was matched up against Wayne Gretzky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go Gretzky,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Crosby love was predictable, the pick of Jagr over Ovechkin was an eyebrow raiser, at least for crazy ol\u2019 me who has watched both players in their primes and in Capitals jerseys.<\/p>\n

Though, upon research, the two players are much closer than I thought. In fact, they\u2019re like two delicious flavors of ice cream that are incredible in their own right.<\/p>\n

Head-to-head statistically, Jagr was a better playmaker and had more longevity, but Ovechkin is obviously the more dynamic goal-scorer. The highlighted cells in yellow denote where Ovechkin leads Jagr.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin vs. Jagr stats<\/p>\n\nCareer totals
\nOvechkin
\nJagr
\n<\/tr>\n\nGames<\/td>\n1,491<\/td>\n1,733<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nGoals<\/td>\n897<\/td>\n766<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nAssists<\/td>\n726<\/td>\n1,155<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPoints<\/td>\n1,623<\/td>\n1,921<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nEra-adjusted goals<\/td>\n998<\/td>\n841<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPower-play goals<\/td>\n326<\/td>\n217<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nShorthanded goals<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nEven strength goals<\/td>\n566<\/td>\n538<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nGame-winning goals<\/td>\n136<\/td>\n135<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPlayoff goals<\/td>\n77<\/td>\n78<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPlayoff points<\/td>\n147<\/td>\n201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nShots<\/td>\n6,864<\/td>\n5,637<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nHat tricks<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

When we consider NHL awards, Jagr took home 12 in his career, including back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. Jagr won 5 Art Ross Trophies as the league\u2019s leading point-scorer. Ovechkin has won 20 NHL Trophies overall, including a league-record 9 Rocket Richard Trophies.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin vs. Jagr awards<\/p>\n\nTrophies
\nOvechkin
\nJagr
\n<\/tr>\n\nStanley Cups<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nArt Ross Trophy<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nCalder Trophy<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nConn Smythe Trophy<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nHart Trophy<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nMasterton Trophy<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nMessier Award<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nRocket Richard Trophy<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nTed Lindsay Award<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Perhaps what gives Jagr the edge over Ovechkin is MacKinnon\u2019s personal success against the Capitals when the two play each other. In 20 head-to-head matchups against Ovechkin, MacKinnon has notched 28 points, including 11 goals. Ovechkin has scored 10 times and tallied 18 points. (Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Both players have posted 78 shots. Ovechkin, however, has scored 3 game-winning goals to MacKinnon\u2019s 1.)<\/p>\n

Or maybe it\u2019s that MacKinnon enjoys Jagr\u2019s overall game more. Or he\u2019s funnier online. Whatever the reason, his choice is wrong, and Alex Ovechkin is a better player than Jaromir Jagr.<\/p>\n

The end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan MacKinnon is a Stanley Cup champion and one of the best forwards of his generation. He\u2019s also…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-108746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114950382718478446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}