We need older nerdies to confirm that!
I think he had two or three legit super elite years in Ottawa that weren't all that different than how he performed in Boston. What people maybe couldn't predict was how long he'd be amazing for. And maybe he didn't have that 5+ year track record of being...
I mean even if public perception was that he wasn't that good (I disagree!), that's a different debate than whether he was actually good. He was. And a defenseman of that caliber will almost always be more impactful than a winger, no matter how good that winger is.
Ottawa screwing up with their evaluation of Redden vs Chara does not = Chara became elite only when he went to Boston. He was obviously far more impactful to Ottawa than Marner is for the leafs, don't be revisionist homers. I would argue that there aren't many players in the league that were as...
It's hard to compare him to anyone tbh. The disparity between reg season and playoffs is just way too rare. But yeah probably top 5 regular season ufa.