Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Connor McDavid may author one of NHL’s best wasted seasons

2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game

TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 28: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers waits to be introduced during the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game at Amalie Arena on January 28, 2018 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Considering the fact that he plays for the Edmonton Oilers, it’s probably most tempting to compare Connor McDavid to Wayne Gretzky.

The 2017-18 season might prompt McDavid to feel a little bit more like early-years Mario Lemieux: a superlative player whose sensational scoring often wasn’t enough to lift some putrid teams into the playoffs.

Thanks to last night’s dazzling four-goal, one-assist effort in a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, McDavid is now tied for third place in scoring with 61 points, just five behind Nikita Kucherov’s 66 for the NHL lead.

Monday served as the exclamation point to what’s been another great season by McDavid, yet it’s difficult to shake the impression that even his superstar work won’t foist the Oilers into the playoffs.

As of this writing, the Oilers are barely ahead of the Vancouver Canucks for third-to-last in the West, and they trail the final wild card spot by a whopping 11 points. Different forecasts put their playoff chances somewhere between three and less than one percent.

Quotes like these make it sting to realize that hockey fans probably won’t see McDavid during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

With a scoring pace just a step behind last year’s 100-point masterpiece, McDavid might end up putting together one of the truly great runs for a player whose team missed the playoffs.

Actually, it begs the question: what are some of the best performances by players whose teams missed out?

This isn’t a comprehensive list, so feel free to add your own suggestions.

Might as well call it The Mario Lemieux Trophy

From his debut in 1984-85 through the 1988-89 season, Lemieux scored 715 points in just 368 regular season games. During that same time period, “The Magnificent One” only played in 11 postseason contests.

McDavid’s run with Edmonton lasted 13 games last postseason, so number 97 can take solace in the suffering number 66 endured before Lemieux eventually raised the Stanley Cup on two occasions.

Then again, if forced to choose, McDavid would rather follow the path of Lemieux rather than all-time great/bad luck case Marcel Dionne, who collected 1,771 points during his career but only played in 49 playoff games.

Some interesting contemporary examples


  • Last season, Kucherov provided a preview of what he could do, even without a boost from Steven Stamkos (who’s suffered through a few lousy seasons of his own, during the darker Lightning days). Kucherov’s 40 goals ranked second in the NHL last season, and his 85 points placed him fifth, but Tampa Bay still fell short of the playoffs.
  • You might as well consider a section for Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets.

Marian Hossa had some great seasons in his short stay with the Thrashers, with his 100-points season in 2006-07 helping Atlanta actually make the playoffs ... only to be swept. Ilya Kovalchuk slogged through eight seasons with the Thrashers, scoring 328 goals while being limited to that lone sweep. Kovalchuk got a chance to show that he could be a prolific playoff performer in New Jersey, as Hossa did bouncing around from great teams until he stuck with the Blackhawks.

The Thrashers make the Winnipeg Jets’ growing pains seem modest, but that doesn’t mean that Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele haven’t seen some strong seasons go to waste. Wheeler’s been there since the latter Atlanta days (23 games before the move), so he deserves extra kudos if Winnipeg can finally make a big run this season.


  • It’s a blessing that Jarome Iginla enjoyed the spotlight of a run within one win of a Stanley Cup, because he dealt with a raw deal in 2001-02.

His 52 goals and 96 points were pretty outstanding during the height of the ugly “clutch and grab” days, yet he was robbed of the Hart Trophy (sorry, Jose Theodore) and finished out of the playoffs with 79 standings points.


  • Taylor Hall is about to play his 500th regular season game without ever playing in the postseason. At least he’s had a sense of humor about his lack of team luck ... maybe this is the year he finally makes it?


  • Jack Eichel is closing in on his first truly great season, as he’s on pace to shred his career-highs of 24 goals (he’s already at 20) and 57 points (Eichel has 49 in 52 games). The top two picks of the 2015 NHL Draft probably don’t want to have this sort of thing in common, but alas.

***

You could probably throw some great goalies and defensemen from bad teams into the mix, too, but this post was already getting a little sprawling, so add your own picks in the comments (or on Twitter/via email).

It would be a shame (some might argue a fireable offense) to see McDavid’s wonderful work wasted this season. At least he’s not alone, though.


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.