"He just finds a way to keep raising the bar," said Penguins center Sidney Crosby, himself a two-time Hart Trophy winner. "I think that's a credit to him. He's just found a way. Whenever everyone thinks that there's no way he can build on that, he finds a way to do it. That says a lot about him."
A lot of players had a lot of things to say about McDavid, who became the first player in NHL history with three separate point streaks of 15 or more games in the same season.
"It's pretty incredible," said Rangers forward Patrick Kane, who won the Hart Trophy in 2015-16. " 'Bread' [Artemi Panarin] and I were talking the other day that we could be in a good mood coming in in the morning, but then you see what he's doing on the highlights and you just look at his numbers and all of a sudden you're quickly depressed because of what he's doing. It's like, 'Oh man, I guess I have to go back to the drawing board.' I mean, it's impressive. He's obviously highly motivated with the work ethic and skill. He's got the full package."
McDavid had at least one point in 75 of 82 games this season; he had 30 games with one point, 23 with two, 12 with three, nine with four and one with five.
"Never seen anything like it, I would say," Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "And just to do it year after year, I feel like he's getting better, too. I don't know if that's possible, but I feel like he is."
McDavid's 45 multi-point games equal his NHL high set last season. He is one of four players, including Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux and Phil Esposito, to have at least 45 multi-point games in more than one season in NHL history.
His 22 games with three or more points are a career high, topping the 18 he had in 2020-21.
His 10 games with four or more points are a career high, topping the seven he had in 2020-21.
"He's at a different level," Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said. "I see it first hand over the summer when I train with him. He's got unbelievable talent and he's got the work ethic to match it. As gaudy as the numbers are, it's almost like I'm not surprised because of how good he is. He's a remarkable player and it seems like he's just getting better."
McDavid had 105 points (33 goals, 72 assists) in 56 games in 2020-21, a 153-point pace for an 82-game season. He had 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) last season; his goals and assists totals were NHL career highs at the time.
He blew those numbers away this season.
"It's not like one season he has 80 or 70 points and then all of a sudden the next season he has 150 points and the next he's down to 70 or 80," Zibanejad said. "It's constantly just doing it over and over again, and he finds different ways to be better to be able to be more unpredictable.
"Being able to do this when everyone knows to watch out for him and everyone is trying to defend him hard, I don't know what else to say other than it's beyond impressive."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, 80 points (16 first-place votes); David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins, 47; Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers, 17; Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars, 16; Leon Draisaitl, Oilers, 16; Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, 15; Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, 14; Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils, 14; Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres, 7; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, 6; Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators, 4; Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche, 2; Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders, 1; Linus Ullmark, Bruins, 1
