Gaudreau is on pace for most points by a Flames player in 33 years
Johnny Gaudreau is good at hockey.
It’s not exactly breaking news.
But the forward is having a monumental season by Calgary Flames standards.
Generationally good.
Gaudreau is on pace for exactly 110 points — by way of a 34.5 goal and 75.5 assist pace — thanks in large part to a six-game points streak that has seen Gaudreau net two goals and 12 assists, including a trio of helpers in a 6-0 romp over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
“You go through these grooves every once in a while throughout the season,” Gaudreau told FlamesTV. “Everything’s finding the net. Sometimes it’s the opposite way, and you can’t find the net sometimes. It’s going well right now. Hopefully, it keeps going.”
JOHNNY GAUDREAU, WHAT DID YOU DO?! pic.twitter.com/jjsDsZshu9
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 27, 2022
The Flames single-season points record is held by Kent Nilsson, who had 131 points (49 goals, 82 assists) in 80 games in 1980-81.
Next on the list? Joe Mullen, with 110 points (51 goes, 59 assists) in 79 games in 1988-89.
Gaudreau, a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end, would be the first Flames skater to crack the 100-point plateau since Theo Fleury hit triple digits on the nose in 1992-93.
Only seven players, a grand total of 13 times, have eclipsed the 100-point plateau since Gaudreau entered the NHL on a full-time basis at the start of the 2014-15 season.
Connor McDavid has reached it four times (105, 2020-21; 116, 2018-19; 108, 2017-18; 100, 2016-17), and Nikita Kucherov (128, 2018-19; 100, 2017-18), Leon Draisaitl (110, 2019-20; 105, 2018-19) and Patrick Kane (110, 2018-19; 106, 2015-16) has each hit it twice.
Sidney Crosby (100, 2018-19), Brad Marchand (100, 2018-19), and Claude Giroux (102, 2017-18) have also accomplished the feat.
A few have flirted with it, including Gaudreau himself. He had a career-high 99 points (36 goals, 63 assists) in 82 games in 2018-19.
He’s on the right track to tease again.
Gaudreau has more points this season, with 51 in 38 games, than he had all of 2020-21 when he finished with 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists) in 56 games.
Guys, we're running out of ways to describe the insanity that is Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. pic.twitter.com/8QORFnK7Za
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 27, 2022
He also has 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in his past 15 games, leading the NHL in points-per-game at 1.67 among players that have skated in 10 or more games since December 3.
Matthew Tkachuk, Gaudreau’s linemate, is second.
The pair have been anchored by centre Elias Lindholm, who does a lot of heavy lifting for the line and has helped put Gaudreau on a historic pace.
“We all see the ice really well,” Gaudreau said earlier this week. “We’re good buddies, off the ice, and we have good chemistry, practicing together as well. It makes it a lot easier coming to the rink.
“I think we’re finding a lot of chemistry to start the season, and we’re just building and building and building off of it, and we’re getting rewarded.”
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