McDavid taking fast track to 1,000 points with Oilers

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid has attained milestones at an impressive rate since entering the NHL in 2015-16.

The Edmonton Oilers center collects offensive markers like someone gathering orange cones after a practice.

Heading into the Oilers’ game against the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FDSNSO), McDavid is one point from attaining perhaps his most significant marker: 1,000 points. He has 999 points (340 goals, 659 assists) in 658 NHL games, and of the 98 players who have reached the 1,000-point plateau, only Wayne Gretzky (424), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656) have done it faster.

“He hits milestones all the time, but I think this one obviously is a special one,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said Wednesday. “Not many people get there and he’s able to potentially do it the fourth quickest, which is pretty incredible considering the incredible players that have played. But to him, it’s another game and I think to everybody, all the hockey fans in the world, it’s pretty astonishing and he’s still a pretty young guy and has a lot of hockey left.”

McDavid is on the verge of reaching 1,000 points faster than Jari Kurri (716), Guy Lafleur (720), Bryan Trottier (726), Denis Savard (727), Steve Yzerman (737), Marcel Dionne (740) and Phil Esposito (745), among other members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

It’s elite company for an elite player who entered the League heralded as a generational talent and has lived up to all the expectations, and more.

“There are little milestones along the way: the 300 club, the 400 club, the 500 club, all those things, they’re like little treasures,” Trottier said. “Then you get to 1,000, 1,100, 1,300, 1,400, they are bigger treasures.”

The biggest treasure for McDavid would be the Stanley Cup, which has eluded him. He came close last season, leading the Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before they lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.

McDavid was still named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was the most recent award for the No. 1 selection in the 2015 NHL Draft.

So far, the 27-year-old has won the Art Ross Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL’s points leader, five times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023); the Ted Lindsay Award, voted annually to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the NHL Players' Association, four times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2023); the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP three times (2017, 2021, 2023); and the Rocket Richard Trophy, which goes the League’s leading goal-scorer, in 2023.

“I don’t think there’s been a player like him before,” Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl said. “I don’t think there’s [been] a player that can create out of nothing, ever in hockey. You get into 1,000 at his age and how few games he’s played, it’s mind-blowing at times to see him break all of these records.

“But there’s a lot of work that goes into it for him and a lot of people don’t see. We’re very fortunate we get to watch him and see him every day and see how much he cares about the game of hockey, how much he cares about himself. I’m very fortunate to be able to learn from him and watch him do his thing. It’s just fun to watch, it really is.”

McDavid got his first NHL point Oct. 13, 2015, in his third game. He scored in a 4-2 loss at the Dallas Stars, tipping in a shot from defenseman Andrej Sekera past goalie Kari Lehtonen at 12:18 of the second period.

McDavid was limited to 45 games that season, sustaining a broken clavicle in his 13th game after crashing into the end boards against the Philadelphia Flyers. He finished with 48 points (16 goals, 32 assists). The injury likely cost him the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

As he has matured, McDavid has developed into one of the most dominant offensive players of all time.

“You never know how a player is going to change once he gets into the NHL and as he gets older and matures as a man,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who coached McDavid in junior hockey with Erie of Ontario Hockey League. “But the player that I saw in junior and the person that he was is very similar to the person I see here; someone who is very dedicated to his game, dedicated to the team’s success and really driven to be the best, but often not wanting the accolades or the recognition and often pushes off and wants his teammates to be recognized for their contributions.”

In his second season with Edmonton, McDavid reached 100 points (30 goals, 70 assists) in a season for the first time. He got his 100th NHL point Jan. 18, 2017, in his 47th game of the season, assisting on the opening goal by Zack Kassian in a 4-3 overtime win against the Panthers. It took McDavid 92 games to get 100 career points.

“I asked Patrick Kane about him because you don’t really know until you’re on the ice with the guy," Savard said, "and he told me the separation that he creates, a foot or two is a lot of room, and that’s his strength, and he gets that foot or two away, right away and you can’t recover. There are not many that played that were able to do to that. [Gretzky] was different -- he had the vision, he had eyes everywhere. McDavid, if he gets a step on you anywhere on the ice, look out.

“I’m not surprised he’s going to achieve this pretty quick. He’s amazing and it’s great for our game, it’s fun to watch. We’re lucky.”

McDavid followed his 100-point season in 2016-17 with 108 points (41 goals, 67 assists) in 82 games the following season. The season after that he had 116 points (41 goals, 75 assists) in 82 games.

In 2019-20, a season that was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, McDavid had 97 points (34 goals, 63 assists) in 64 games. He reached 500 points on Feb. 17, 2021, with an assist in a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets. The milestone came in McDavid’s 369th game, the same number it took for Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby to reach the mark. Crosby got to 1,000 points in 757 games.

McDavid will also get there ahead of active players Evgeni Malkin, who hit 1,000 points in 848 games, Alex Ovechkin (880), Steven Stamkos (945), Kane (953), Nicklas Backstrom (1,037) and John Tavares (1,054).

“When you played against him in junior, I had no idea how good of a hockey player he was,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “The amount of detail and effort he puts into his game and his body to make sure he’s ready to play at his peak each and every night, that was pretty eye-opening for me when I first met him, and we lived together when we were young. He’s worked so hard to get to this point and I know he’s got so much more he wants to accomplish.”