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Connor McDavid chasing rare, personal three-peat

2018 NHL Awards - Press Room

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 20: Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers poses with the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer in the press room at the 2018 NHL Awards presented by Hulu at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on June 20, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Three years into his career and Connor McDavid is already the NHL’s most dominant offensive player.

He has already topped the 100-point mark in two different seasons (there have only been four other 100-point seasons across the league over the past five years) and on a points per game level has outperformed the rest of the league by a fairly substantial margin.

He also enters the 2018-19 season with a chance to make a little bit of history.

Having won the NHL’s scoring title in each of the past two seasons, McDavid almost certainly enters this season as the favorite to do so again (he is also the odds on favorite to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP). Barring some sort of an injury that robs of him significant playing time, there does not seem to be much of anything that is going to stand in his way of winning it again. He has already produced at a rate that is unmatched by any of his peers in the league, and he seems to be driven to do even more this season. Given that he is entering his age 22 season, the age where scorers tend to hit their statistical peak, it seems possible he can improve on what he has already accomplished offensively.

So let’s pretend, just hypothetically, that all happens and he takes home his third consecutive scoring title.

It would be an accomplishment that puts him in some pretty rare company as it has only been accomplished by five other players in the history of the NHL.

The list:


  • Jaromir Jagr, as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, won four consecutive scoring titles between the 1997-98 and 2000-01 seasons. This was Jagr’s statistical peak and saw him record nearly 100 more points than any other player in the league during those four years. He was only challenged for the top spot in the final two years when Pavel Bure finished two points behind him in 1999-00 and Joe Sakic finished three points behind him in 2000-01.
  • Wayne Gretzky dominated the NHL’s scoring leaderboards throughout most of the 1980s, winning the scoring title in eight consecutive seasons between 1979-80 and 1986-87. His run came to an end during the 1987-88 season when Mario Lemieux won back-to-back scoring titles before Gretzky won two more 1989-90 and 1990-91.
  • Guy LaFleur was one of the centerpieces of the Montreal Canadiens’ dynasty of the 1970s (thanks to some help from a couple of poorly managed expansion teams) and was at his best between 1975 and 1978 when he won three consecutive scoring titles. He followed this run with consecutive third-place finishes the next two years.
  • Phil Esposito won four consecutive scoring titles for the Boston Bruins between 1970 and 1974. This was part of a six-year run that saw him lead the league five times ... the only year he didn’t win was the 1969-70 season when he came in second behind his Bruins teammate, Bobby Orr.
  • Gordie Howe won four of his six career scoring titles between 1950 and 1954, twice pulling off the NHL’s version of the triple crown by leading the league in goals, assists, and points in the same season (1950-51 and 1952-53).

If McDavid does it, he would be the only one on this list other than Gretzky to have done it within his first four years in the league, which is just incredible.

It is also another reminder as to just how incredible it is that the Oilers have made the playoffs just once in his career and are no guarantee to return this season.

Related: Non-playoff teams most likely to return to the postseason this season

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.