Connor McDavid’s hot start is driving Oilers’ success
As of the morning of November 12, the Edmonton Oilers had the most points in the standings of any team in the NHL.
It should come as no surprise that that goes hand-in-hand with the fact that super star center Connor McDavid has the most points in the NHL, but the margin by which he does and the pace at which he has produced is truly unique, even by his own sky-high standards.
McDavid’s 49 points in 20 games put him on pace for 205.8 points in the new 84-game season, and even under the old 82-game schedule, he would still be tracking to put up 201. Only Wayne Gretzky has ever eclipsed the 200-point mark in a full season.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed McDavid’s historic start to the season and how it has pushed the Oilers to play a more complete team game around him for stretches this year.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Speaking of staying hot, let’s play a little percentage game here. The Edmonton Oilers picking up another win last night, an overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers where it wasn’t Connor or Leon or Bouchard, it was Tristan Jarry who steals the show, but speaking of that dynamic trio we can call them, it was an overtime winner from Evan Bouchard that sealed up the victory. Connor McDavid didn’t get an assist on this goal, which drove me nuts for a couple of reasons… They had a game earlier this week where he could have gotten an assist on an empty-netter, and they didn’t give it to him. Yesterday on the OT winner, they could have squinted and gave 98 an assist, but they don’t. Connor McDavid with 49 points… If he would have [gotten an assist], that would have been his 50th point in the first 20 games of the season, Hutts. The only players to ever do that in the history of the sport are Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. So he got robbed of a little history last night on that OT winner, but it doesn’t change the fact that Connor McDavid is just off to a scorching start this year.
Carter Hutton: It’s insane, too. The pace is at 201-point pace right now for the season, which is just absolutely absurd, and the way he’s playing, I think just motivates this team to be better… This start has solidified where they’re at, and I think they obviously need to play at times a better brand of hockey… Last year, these were games going into the 3rd period, they’re down by three goals and they’re clawing back with their offense to try to get into it. At least now their goalie when they aren’t on are keeping them in games. It’s been an important factor.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…
