Absurd point total just scratching the surface for Oilers captain McDavid
There’s still a fifth of the season to play for the Edmonton Oilers, but the ridiculousness that is Connor McDavid has long been in full swing.
McDavid, who logged the 250th multi-point game of his career in a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, has already surpassed his most productive season in the NHL — setting a new benchmark for the league’s most dangerous man with 124 points (54 goals, 70 assists).
A masterclass from McDavid š¤Æ pic.twitter.com/tXb74QvD2R
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 25, 2023
Only two players since 2000-01 have had 124-plus points in a single season, including Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Joe Thornton in a split-campaign between the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins. Kucherov finished with 128 points (41 goals, 87 assists) in 2018-19, and Thornton had 125 points (29 goals, 96 assists) in 2005-06.
The 26-year-oldĀ McDavid reached the mark by way of a two-goal performance that sees him now with 12 snipes in his past eight skates — the last Oilers player with more goals through as many games was Wayne Gretzky from December 17, 1986, to January 7, 1987 — and now boasts NHL bests in goals (54) and points (124) with 17 games remaining in the regular season.
MCDAVID ON A MISSION š«” pic.twitter.com/LsrMHt7UsO
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 2, 2023
His previous high of 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) came last season.
Suffice it to say, it’s a record-setting season for McDavid. And well worthy of a snow plow nod.
But wait, there’s more.
McDavid’s 250th multi-point affair also put him in elite standing with Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Mike Bossy. The former Erie Otters standout and the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft became the fourth-fastest to the multi-point plateau behind the trio, including Gretzky at 382 games, Lemieux at 444 games, and Bossy at 549 games. It took McDavid 552 twirls.
Connor McDavid is a cheat code š³
(via @EdmontonOilers)pic.twitter.com/Zf6NNwYv91
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 23, 2022
Oh, the latter of McDavid’s two goals moved him ahead of Gretzky on Edmonton’s all-time game-winners list with 62, 10 shy of Glenn Anderson’s franchise mark.
McDavid’s 50-goal campaign — he’s on pace to reach 68 snipes — is his first, and the centre, who leads Maurice “Rocket” Richard challengers, is the seventh-fastest since the 1992-93 season to crack that cliff. The company he keeps includes Lemieux (twice), Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Mogilny (twice), and Cam Neely.
It’d also log him in the top 20 of all time.
124 points, 65 games. Connor McDavid (@cmcdavid97) everybody. š„µ
Colorful Milestones presented by @PPG pic.twitter.com/3eRO1fv8cv
— NHL (@NHL) March 7, 2023
He’s already the first NHL player with three straight 70-assist seasons since Adam Oates logged five in a row from 1989-90 to 1993-94.
Moreover, McDavid’s current trajectory — a 1.91 points-per-game pace — has him lining up to eclipse 156 points. It’d be the 14th-most in NHL history, without adjusting for era, the most since 1995-96, and the most from any player in the 100-year-plus history of the league not named Gretzky or Lemieux.
Not bad.
And somehow, just a scratch of the surface for McDavid.
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