Connor McDavid’s first month of the 2026-27 season has been the kind of run that makes you double-check the box score. The Edmonton Oilers captain heads into Saturday’s meeting with the New York Islanders sitting on 36 points in 13 games, with eight goals and 28 assists. That’s more than 2.7 points per game, a ridiculous pace by any standard.
He’s done something even more eye-catching along the way: McDavid has picked up an assist in every game Edmonton has played this season, setting an NHL record for the longest assist streak to open a campaign. On top of that, he’s coming off two assists in Edmonton’s 4-0 win over Calgary on Wednesday, a result that pushed the Oilers to 9-2-2 and gave them a franchise-record five straight road wins to start the season.
Now that blistering start gets dropped into a matchup with one of the league’s most intriguing young players.
Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, will be on the ice against the player taken first overall a decade earlier. McDavid was the top pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, and he’s spent the years since turning himself into one of the most productive offensive forces of his era.
Schaefer has made a strong early impression in his own right. The Islanders defenseman has 14 points in 13 games, with four goals and 10 assists. He also ranks third in the NHL in average ice time at 26 minutes, 58 seconds per game, a heavy workload for someone so early in his career.
McDavid leads NHL forwards in average ice time at 23 minutes, 30 seconds, so there’s a good chance these two will be seeing plenty of each other. That makes Saturday’s game feel like more than just another regular-season stop - it’s a rare chance to watch a superstar in full flight against a young defenseman already being leaned on like a veteran.
The Islanders come in at 7-4-2 and have won four of their last six, including Thursday’s overtime victory over Minnesota. Schaefer scored the winner in that game.
McDavid’s numbers also point to just how extreme this opening stretch has been. His 36 points put him on a mathematical pace for 232 over an 82-game season, though that’s only a projection. Keeping that kind of production going would be a massive task.
Still, the stage is set. One player is chasing another historic chapter in an already loaded career.
The other is trying to carve out his own. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m.
ET at UBS Arena.
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