During the 2021-22 NHL season we will take an occasional look at some stunning numbers from around the league. Here is what is standing out to us right now as Connor McDavid reaches the 100-point mark yet again.
With a goal and an assist in the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-3 shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night Connor McDavid became the first player in the NHL to hit the 100-point mark this season. He will almost certainly be joined by teammate Leon Draisaitl in the very near future.
For McDavid it is already the fifth 100-point season of his career, which puts him in some pretty exclusive company.
Let’s take a look at some stunning numbers on his offensive performance.
Five 100-point seasons in only seven years
McDavid is just the 19th player in the history of the league to have at least five 100-point seasons. The majority of the other players on that list played their careers during the golden years of goal scoring in the NHL during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s.
Among active players, he is only the second player to have at least five such seasons, joining Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who has six of them. Crosby has recorded his six in 17 years. McDavid has five in seven seasons.
Furthermore, here is the list of current NHL players with at least three 100-point seasons:
- Sidney Crosby (6): 17 seasons
- Connor McDavid (5): 7 seasons
- Alex Ovechkin (4): 17 seasons
- Evgeni Malkin (3): 16 seasons
- Joe Thornton (3): 24 seasons
McDavid would already be at six 100-point seasons had it not been for the 2019-20 season being cut short. He had 97 points in 64 games that year.
On his own level since entering the league
• There have been 14 100-point seasons in the NHL since McDavid’s rookie year in 2015-16. He already has five of them. No player in the league has more than two during that stretch (though, Draisaitl will soon have his third).
• McDavid’s 1.42 points per game average since his debut is by far and away the highest mark in the league. The next closest player is Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov at 1.22 points per game. The 0.20 gap between McDavid and Kucherov at No. 1 and No. 2 is the same as the cap between Kucherov at No. 2 and Mark Scheifele at No. 19 during that stretch.
[Related: Stunning Numbers: Crazy seasons for Cale Makar and Roman Josi]
• McDavid has consistently hit the 100-point mark despite playing more than 70 games in a season in just three of his first six seasons (and he hit the 100-point mark in only 67 games this season).
Here are his 82-game paces based on points per game for each season (and his actual numbers):
- 2015-16: 87 (48 points in 45 games)
- 2016-17: 100 (100 in 82 games)
- 2017-18: 108 (108 in 82 games)
- 2018-19: 122 (116 in 78 games)
- 2019-20: 124 (97 in 64 gaames)
- 2020-21: 154 (105 in 56 games)
- 2021-22: 122 (100 in 67 games so far)
Just outrageous stuff given the era, where nobody else is consistently close to him.
Major driving force in Oilers offense
Since joining the NHL McDavid has either scored or assisted on 674 of the Oilers’ 1,539 goals. That is 44 percent of the goals.
McDavid has also been on the ice for 829 of those goals (meaning 155 goals that he did not actually score or assist on). That is 54 percent of the Oilers goals. Crazy.
By comparison, Kucherov, the second highest point per game player in the NHL during this stretch, has contributed to just 29 percent of the Tampa Bay Lightning goals in those games. Crosby has also contributed to 29 percent of the Penguins goals during that stretch.
Now the Oilers just need to win
The disappointing thing for McDavid and the Oilers is that not only do they have him performing at this level, but also another player in Draisaitl that is almost his equal. Despite those two megastars the Oilers have won just eight playoff games (that includes the one play-in game in 2019-20) and only one playoff series. That is a damning indictment on the front office. Even this season the Oilers have been a bubble playoff team all year. They can not keep wasting these two performances.
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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.