Connor McDavid is doing more than piling up points for the Oilers. He’s pushing the NHL into territory that almost never gets visited.
Through 18 games, McDavid has 47 points, and he needs three more in his next two outings against the Rangers and Flyers to become just the third player in league history - and the first in 31 years - to reach 50 points in the first 20 games of a season. If he gets there, he’ll join Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky in that club.
The pace is outrageous. At his current rate, McDavid would finish 20 games with 52 points, which is the kind of number that still feels unreal even when you see it written down.
He’s also on a track that would put him in the conversation for 170-plus points, a benchmark that only seven seasons in NHL history have ever cleared. Gretzky did it six times, with seasons of 215, 212, 208, 205, 196 and 183 points, while Lemieux had 199.
McDavid is on pace for 219 points, but the bigger picture here is the 170 mark - the kind of season that should be viewed as a triumph even if he doesn’t get all the way to 200.
His assist numbers are just as wild. McDavid has already matched Lemieux for the most assists in a 20-game span with 37, even though he’s only played 18 games.
That works out to more than two assists per game, which would put him on pace for 172 assists. The NHL record is 163, set by Gretzky in 1986.
Gretzky had 11 seasons with at least 100 assists, while Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Nikita Kucherov and McDavid are the only other players to hit that mark. McDavid could become only the second player ever with two 100-assist seasons, and the idea of him reaching 120 assists doesn’t sound quite as impossible as it should.
The production has come against everybody, too. Against Pacific Division teams, McDavid has 26 points in nine games, a 2.88 points-per-game clip.
He has nine points in three games against Central Division opponents, which comes out to 3.00 per game. Against Metro teams, he has nine points in four games, including a five-point night against Carolina.
He has three points in two games against Atlantic teams. Edmonton still has 19 games left against the Pacific, 21 against the Central, 12 against the Metro and 14 against the Atlantic.
Evan Bouchard is making his own noise on the blue line. His 31 points in 18 games are the sixth-best start by a defenseman in NHL history, and he needs three points over his next two games to climb to third on that list.
The start is so strong that he’s producing at a rate the league hasn’t seen from a defenseman in 50 years. Bouchard is now in the same conversation as Bobby Orr, and he only needs 69 points in his final 66 games to reach 100.
That number looks reachable after he put up 95 points in his final 76 games last season. He could end up joining Orr and Paul Coffey as the only defensemen to post 104 or more points in a season.
Leon Draisaitl keeps doing what he always seems to do: score goals. He has 16 in 18 games and is on pace for his fifth 50-goal season.
If he gets there, only six players will have more 50-goal seasons than he does. Gretzky, Mike Bossy and Alex Ovechkin each have nine, while Lemieux, Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne have six.
Draisaitl already has the most goals in the NHL since the start of the 2017-18 season with 400, and he scored the 450th goal of his career last night. He looks positioned to finish with more than 700 career goals.
Kirill Kaprizov is off to a huge start for the Wild as well, with 16 goals in 19 games and 31 points, which ties Bouchard for third in the NHL. He’s still chasing his first 50-goal season, and he should blow past his career-best 108 points.
Sidney Crosby also hit a major milestone this week, moving past Marcel Dionne for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,773 points. He should pass Ron Francis, who has 1,798, later this season and become the fifth player with 1,800-plus career points.
If he keeps playing for a few more seasons, he could become only the second player to reach 2,000 points. Crosby also needs 31 goals to pass Lemieux for the most goals in Penguins history.
Alex Ovechkin is closing in on another landmark of his own. He needs 10 goals to pass Gretzky for the most regular-season and playoff goals combined. Gretzky sits at 1,016, and Ovechkin has 1,007.
In Other News...
Oilers Get The Win They Needed But One Concern Just Grew
The Oilers got the result they needed with a 4-2 win over Vancouver, and the night had the familiar fingerprints of Connor McDavid all over it. He kept his point and assist streak rolling to 18 games, setting up goals for Mattias Ekholm and Leon Draisaitl, while Zach Hyman returned to the lineup and chipped in an assist as Edmonton continued to lean on its top-end talent to get through a tight divisional matchup.
But the bigger picture for Edmonton was not just the two points. Devon Levi was back in goal and stopped 20 of 22 shots, giving the Oilers a steadier look in net, yet the game still carried a late concern that could matter more than the standings in the short term. One of their regular forwards left with an issue after taking a puck to the face, and his status will be worth watching as the Oilers try to keep building momentum. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Win Came With A Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Scare
The Oilers got the result they wanted in a recent win, but it came with a jolt when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was hurt early enough to miss most of the contest. Edmonton still found enough production from its line combinations to survive the loss of one of its most trusted forwards, and the postgame read was as much about how the group adjusted as it was about the final score. Several combinations held up well, giving the coaching staff a useful snapshot of what worked when the lineup was forced to shift on the fly.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins status adds another layer to a roster that already has some moving parts, especially with the organization keeping an eye on Bakersfield as well. The Condors recent loss and the goaltending performance there are part of the broader picture, but the bigger question for Edmonton is how it manages its forward group if the injury lingers. With potential changes looming once Matt Savoie is back, the Oilers could be looking at another round of line juggling before long. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Have A Trade Chance With Ryan McLeod Suddenly In Limbo
Ryan McLeods place in Buffalo has become a little less certain of late, with the forward recently sitting as a healthy scratch and no longer looking like a regular fixture in the Sabres lineup. For Edmonton, that kind of uncertainty naturally invites a familiar kind of conversation, since center depth is always a topic worth revisiting and McLeods name still carries some appeal in Oil Country.
The trade angle here is still just that, an angle, with no confirmed indication that the Oilers and Sabres are actually working on anything. Even so, McLeods contract and the kind of assets it might take to pry him loose make for an interesting fit check, especially for a team that could always use another option down the middle if the opportunity ever becomes real. [Read more 🡒]