Connor McDavid keeps making the same point in a different way: when he’s on the ice, the game bends around him. Last season he put up 48 goals on 307 shots, good for a 15.6 shooting percentage, and even that kind of production only tells part of the story.
The comparison to Bobby Hull makes the case from another angle. Hull’s 1966-67 season featured 52 goals on 322 shots and a 16.2 shooting percentage, and the source here calls him “the most brilliant goal-scorer of his time.”
McDavid is not being framed as that kind of pure finisher. With his broader skill set - and with goals-per-game at 2.98 in 1966-67 versus 3.08 in 2025-26 - he belongs in a different conversation.
Still, the career production is eye-popping: McDavid averages 42-84-126 per 82 games, while Hull’s career average was 47-43-90 over 82 games.
The real question in this discussion is how Edmonton should handle McDavid’s five-on-five minutes, especially when the numbers get messy. One of the strangest examples came with Trent Frederic, where McDavid posted a 33 percent goal share but a 76 percent expected goal share.
The on-ice shooting percentage was five percent and the on-ice save percentage was .846, but that came in only 80 minutes, so the sample is too thin to treat as gospel. Even so, the source makes the point bluntly: that was not a good idea, and even a fully healthy Frederic is not going to turn into Patrick Maroon.
Looking across the linemate data, the case for certain combinations gets clearer. By goals-60 with McDavid, Zach Hyman and Matt Savoie stand out as the preferred fit, while Leon Draisaitl, Ike Howard and Vasily Pokdolzin are among the other names in the mix. On points-60, the numbers point again toward Draisaitl and Savoie, though Howard’s sample is too small to trust and Frederic’s minutes are presented as especially inefficient.
The list of McDavid’s best on-ice scoring rates with specific linemates reinforces that view. Matt Savoie sits at 3.03, followed by Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 2.73, Vasily Podkolzin at 2.54, Leon Draisaitl at 2.27, Andrew Mangiapane at 2.22, Ike Howard at 2.01, Jack Roslovic at 1.83 and Trent Frederic at 1.50. McDavid, unsurprisingly, scores with almost anybody, though the source notes he didn’t cash during the 52 minutes Kasperi Kapanen was on his line.
The tempting option is still the biggest one: Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman. Over the last three seasons combined at five-on-five, that trio has produced a 5.21 goals-60, a 70 percent goal share and a 66 percent expected goal share.
In other words, it has looked like a power play at even strength. The problem is simple enough.
Mike Babcock doesn’t have the horses to run McDavid-Draisaitl all the time, and the camp battle is really about whether he can find workable alternatives.
That’s why the suggested setup leans toward McDavid with Hyman and Savoie, while Podkolzin and Ike Howard are the recommended fit with Draisaitl on the second line. The source argues that last year’s frustration shouldn’t obscure the fact that the early lines Babcock is considering do not obviously improve on the options already on the table.
If Babcock does manage to build a second line that works without Draisaitl, the source says he’ll have earned the title of hockey genius.
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Oilers Veterans Get First Chance To Set The Tone In Roster Battle
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Winnipeg is expected to counter with a younger group carrying limited NHL experience, which gives Edmonton a useful test of pace and habits as much as results. The Oilers will get their first real look at how some of the competition for spots handles a more demanding setting, and the tone set by the regulars should matter just as much as the final score. [Read more 🡒]