Connor McDavid’s October didn’t just qualify as a hot start. It landed in the kind of territory that forces a reset on what an elite month can look like.
The Oilers captain piled up 35 points in October, and that total alone put him in rare air. He finished with the third-most points in an October regular season, trailing only Mario Lemieux’s 38 in 1988 and 36 in 1992, while edging past Wayne Gretzky’s 33 from 1986 and Pat LaFontaine’s 30 in 1992. More striking still, McDavid set a new NHL record with 27 assists in October, blowing past the previous mark of 22 shared by Gretzky and Lemieux.
That wasn’t the only record he took down. McDavid also opened the season with a 14-game assist streak, setting a new NHL standard after Gretzky, Ken Linseman and Sebastian Aho had each topped out at 12. He can stretch that run to 15 games tonight against the New York Rangers.
He also broke Gretzky’s record for most points through the first 10 games of a season. Gretzky had 30 in 1983-84; McDavid reached 31 by the end of his 10th game, with five points in that outing. Before this season, McDavid’s best opening 10-game stretch had been 22 points in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.
At the franchise level, McDavid now owns the Oilers’ October marks for points and assists. Gretzky had held the points record at 33, but McDavid passed it with two points against Calgary on Oct. 28 and then pushed it to 35 with an assist on Halloween. Gretzky’s 22 assists in October also fell, with McDavid finishing at 27.
The bigger picture is even more eye-catching. McDavid’s 37 points through 14 games have him eight points ahead of the pace he set in 2022-23, when he finished with 153 points. He was also at 27 points through his first 14 games in the shortened 2021 season, the year he ended with 105 points in 56 games.
And he’s not the only Oiler piling up numbers.
Leon Draisaitl has 26 points through his first 14 games, giving him 26-plus points in the opening 14 for the third time in his career. He had 31 in 2021-22 and 26 in 2022-23.
Evan Bouchard has been just as loud from the blue line. He leads all defensemen in goals with seven, assists with 16 and points with 23, and he also sits at plus-20. At 5-on-5, he is plus-19, and no other NHL defenseman has been on the ice for more than 19 goals for.
In goal, Tristan Jarry has turned his October around in a big way after allowing six goals on Sept. 29 against Vancouver. He ranks sixth in save percentage and seventh in goals-against average, and after back-to-back 4-0 shutout wins, he’s given the Oilers exactly the kind of stability they needed. Devon Levi’s last six starts before getting injured produced a .913 save percentage and 2.47 goals-against average, and the overall team defence has tightened up as well, with fewer odd-man rushes and slot chances allowed.
Jarry became the fifth Oilers goalie to post consecutive regular-season shutouts. Curtis Joseph did it twice in 1997-98, while Tommy Salo in 2000/01, Dwayne Roloson in 2006/07, Cam Talbot in 2016/17 and Mike Smith in 2021/22 each did it once. No Oilers goalie has ever posted three straight shutouts.
The team’s record has matched the surge. Edmonton is 10-2-2 and has won 10 of its first 15 games for the sixth time in franchise history. The best 15-game starts in team history came in 1984-85 at 12-0-3, 1983-84 at 12-2-1, 1985-86 at 11-3-1, 2019-20 at 11-4 and 2021-22 at 10-4-1.
If the Oilers beat the Rangers tonight, they’ll move to 11-2-2 and own the third-best start in franchise history with 24 points through 15 games.
In Other News...
Oilers Turn To Matt Tomkins In A Spot Fans Did Not Expect
The Oilers are turning to Matt Tomkins in a spot few would have circled on the calendar, with coach Mike Babcock saying the goaltender will make his Edmonton debut against the New York Rangers. Tomkins was brought up from AHL Bakersfield under emergency conditions after Devon Levi was placed on injured reserve, giving the organization an unexpected look at a depth option it had only recently added on a two-year, two-way deal.
Tomkins does bring prior NHL experience, but this is still a notable moment for a goalie who has spent much of his recent work in the minors and now gets thrown into a high-profile setting right away. For Edmonton, it is another reminder of how quickly the crease can change, and for Tomkins it is a chance to show he can handle a call that arrived far sooner than anyone around the team likely planned. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Stay Perfect On The Road In Another McDavid-Led Statement Win
The Oilers kept rolling away from home with a 3-1 win over the Rangers, a result that pushed them to 11-2-2 on the season and kept their road mark spotless at 7-0. Connor McDavid set the tone early with a goal and stretched his point streak to 15 games, while Evan Bouchard and Colton Dach added the kind of secondary scoring that has helped Edmonton keep finding answers even when the game tightens up.
There was also a notable subplot in net, where Matt Tomkins made his first start for Edmonton and handled the moment well, turning aside 28 of 29 shots. For a team already carrying momentum through the opening stretch, getting that kind of stability from an unfamiliar name only deepens the sense that the Oilers are building something sturdy as the schedule starts to test them more often. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Look Even Scarier Than Expected Despite Injuries Piling Up
The early weeks of the season have only reinforced how dangerous the Oilers can be, even with injuries already forcing them to shuffle through key absences. Edmonton has still come out of the gate with a strong record, and Connor McDavid has been at the center of it, leading the NHL in points while driving the kind of offense that keeps the Oilers in the conversation every night.
Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard have also done their part, giving Edmonton the sort of scoring depth that makes the team look even scarier than expected. The concern, of course, is how long that can hold if the injury list keeps growing, but for now the Oilers are surviving the early grind with elite production and very little sign that the ceiling has changed. [Read more 🡒]