Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid becomes fifth-fastest player to reach 900 points
Connor McDavid just continues to hit milestone after milestone.
The Edmonton Oilers’ superstar managed to get the 900th point of his NHL career on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers with a primary assist on Zach Hyman’s 2-0 goal.
In just 602 games, Connor McDavid (@cmcdavid97) has reached 900 career points! 9️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Congratulations, Connor! pic.twitter.com/lrGNpQazty
The goal came midway through the second period of the game when, in typical McDavid fashion, the Oilers captain picked up a loose puck along the boards and made a no-look pass to the slot to Hyman, where the winger deked around Carter Hart to score. McDavid entered the night with 898 points, so after scoring the opening goal in the first period, the 2-0 goal provided him with the milestone. He also got an additional three assists by the midway point of the third period, giving him five points on the night as the Oilers won 5-2.
McDavid becomes the fifth-fastest player to hit the milestone, doing so in just 602 games, with only Wayne Gretzky (385 games played), Mario Lemieux (463), Mike Bossy (582) and Peter Stastny (589) achieving the milestone quicker. However, McDavid is the only player to do so in the 21st century.
Entering Tuesday’s game, McDavid has 13 goals and 35 assists for 48 points in 32 games. That would give him a 123-point pace in a full 82-game season, which is phenomenal season for most players, but a slight step back for him from his 153-point season last year.
According to Evolving Hockey’s goals above replacement model, McDavid is first in goals above replacement since entering the league in 2015-16 with 207.6, leading the second-ranked Brad Marchand by 57.4. He also leads the league in that span in offensive GAR with 178.2 and in penalty GAR with 42.5.
McDavid was the first overall pick for the Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft, and has spent the entirety of his nine-season NHL career in Edmonton. He’s in the sixth year of an eight-year contract with a $12.5 million cap hit, which was the highest cap hit at the time of it’s signing, but is now second after Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 million cap hit, and will be third next season when Auston Matthews’ extension with a $13.25 million cap hit kicks in.