Injury could cost McDavid his fourth-straight NHL scoring title
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is injured, and it could cost him his fourth-straight NHL scoring title and a spot in NHL history.
The NHL’s reigning MVP suffered a lower-body injury against the Calgary Flames over the weekend, and Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch classified him as a ‘game-time decision” for tonight’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
While his absence is expected to profoundly impact the team as a whole, the injury could also come at the cost of some individual achievements, with another Art Ross Trophy among them.
Heading into tonight, McDavid is third in the NHL in scoring and nine points back of Nikita Kucherov for the lead.
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Though he is falling a bit behind, it was hard to count out McDavid as he had two games in hand on both Kucherov and MacKinnon, but an injury could change that in a big way. If McDavid does indeed miss tonight’s game against Vegas, those games in hand will shrink to just one game. Missing Friday night’s matchup against the Arizona Coyotes will nullify his advantage.
If he comes up short, it will be the first time the NHL has had a new scoring leader since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, when Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl won the award with 110 points. If you want to go back to when a player not on the Oilers won the Art Ross Trophy, it would be 2018-19, when Nikita Kucherov did so with 128.
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It will also prevent history from being made, as McDavid could have been the sixth player in NHL history to win the Art Ross in four consecutive seasons.
While McDavid winning the scoring race would have been yet another amazing accomplishment, there is no doubt that it won’t weigh heavily on his mind. The 27-year-old has stated many times that he is more focused on team success than individual accolades.
If missing a few games and another scoring title gives the Oilers a better chance to win the Stanley Cup, he will happily do so.