Connor McDavid has this season moving at a ridiculous clip, and that much is plain to see. Through nine games of an 84-game schedule, the Edmonton Oilers captain has piled up 26 points, including a five-point outing against the Utah Mammoth, and he became the fastest player in NHL history to reach 20 assists in a season.
That kind of start is exactly why the conversation has gone where it has. People are already asking whether McDavid could become the first player since Wayne Gretzky to hit 200 points.
It’s a fun thought. It’s also an enormous ask.
If McDavid somehow got there, it would stand as the most impressive accomplishment in NHL history, and it might go down as the most unbelievable offensive season the league has ever seen. Gretzky reached that mark four times, including a 215-point season in 1985-86, and Mario Lemieux came within a whisker at 199 in 1988-89. But the league those players dominated was a very different one from the NHL McDavid is skating in now.
The game has changed across the board. Goaltenders are better.
Their equipment is better. Their technique has improved dramatically over the last 40 years.
Players are bigger, faster and stronger, and they have access to training, nutrition, video work and coaching that simply wasn’t available to the same degree during Gretzky’s era. On top of that, defensive systems are sharper, teams spend endless hours studying opponents, and nearly every player in the league has been preparing for this level since childhood.
That means McDavid is trying to do something extraordinary against athletes who have spent their lives learning how to stop exactly this kind of player.
The math is also daunting. With 26 points through nine games, McDavid would need 174 more over Edmonton’s remaining 75 games to reach 200. That works out to roughly 2.32 points per game the rest of the way, if he plays every night.
Right now, he’s averaging 2.89 points per game, which is absurd on its own. Keeping anything close to that pace for another six months would be even harder.
And yes, McDavid is capable of the explosive nights that fuel this kind of talk. He already produced a five-point game, and nobody would be shocked to see him do it again this season, probably more than once.
But there are also nights when the Oilers get shut out, or McDavid simply doesn’t score. That’s how hockey works.
Even a player this dominant can’t cash in every single game.
A five-point night can be wiped out fast by a blank the next game. Across two games, that leaves him at 2.5 points per outing, which is still incredible - but still right around the pace he’d need to sustain over the long haul if the 200-point chase were going to become reality.
Edmonton’s improved defensive structure adds another wrinkle. The Oilers are doing a better job limiting chances against and have become more comfortable winning without needing to pile up six or seven goals. That’s a positive sign for the team, but it doesn’t exactly help a player trying to chase a scoring record that hasn’t been touched in nearly four decades.
There’s also the distribution of minutes. McDavid has a coach looking to spread ice time around a little more, with Babcock wanting contributions from all four lines. As Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie return from injury, that time on ice figure figures to get even more spread out.
That broader balance should help Edmonton in the bigger picture, and the team’s lighter feel this season suggests things are trending in a useful direction. But it also means McDavid won’t be asked to carry every shift the way he might need to if he were going to push all the way to 200 points.
None of that changes the bigger truth: McDavid is already building another generational season. He has a 153-point campaign on his resume, which is a tier only a handful of players in NHL history have reached. He does not need 200 points to prove where he belongs in the sport’s hierarchy.
Still, the discussion is happening for a reason. Watching him collect 26 points in nine games has been mesmerizing, and there are not many players alive who can make 200 points sound remotely thinkable. That says everything about how good McDavid is.
It also says something about the size of the mountain in front of him. There’s a reason nobody has done it since Gretzky, and there’s a reason the modern game makes the challenge even steeper.
McDavid will put up numbers worth talking about when April arrives. But 200 points in today’s NHL would be astonishing, even for him.
And if he proves all the doubt wrong? Well, that would be something else entirely.
In Other News...
Jack Roslovic Returns To Edmonton With Oilers Fans Watching One Thing
Jack Roslovic has settled in quickly with the Toronto Maple Leafs, picking up four goals and 10 points in his first 10 games after signing a two-year deal. The former Blue Jackets, Rangers and Oilers forward is already showing the kind of pace Toronto hoped for, and he has come through against familiar opponents too, with a goal and three points against Columbus and an assist against New York.
Now Roslovic is headed back to Edmonton, where the reception will be tied as much to memory as to the box score. He has already talked about facing old teams and had plenty of praise for Connor McDavids skill and work ethic, which only adds to the intrigue around a return trip that figures to draw attention from Oilers fans watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Zach Hyman Sparked An Oilers Debate Fans Wont Ignore
Zach Hyman had one of those moments that gets replayed long after the final horn, and not just because of what it meant in the game. In Edmontons high-scoring win over Carolina, the Oilers winger drew a penalty and then appeared to wink afterward, a split-second reaction that quickly became a talking point for fans who were already dissecting every whistle in a tight, emotional matchup.
The debate has lingered because the call came in a game where every small edge mattered, and Hymans manner after the whistle left plenty of room for interpretation. For an Oilers team that thrives on intensity and hates giving opponents any foothold, the whole sequence became less about one minor penalty and more about how fine the line can be between selling a call and crossing into embellishment. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Get A Tough Test From Torontos Hottest New Decision
The Oilers are about to get a look at a different kind of challenge in Torontos crease, with Anthony Stolarz set to start in the upcoming matchup in Edmonton. Jim Hiller announced the decision, and Sergei Bobrovsky will back him up as the Maple Leafs bring a fresh look to one of the games key spots.
Toronto is also shuffling its blue line, with Dakota Mermis set to make his season debut because of injuries on defense. For Edmonton, that means another opponent adjusting on the fly, and another chance to test how well the Oilers can press an advantage against a lineup that is not at full strength. [Read more 🡒]