Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been electric to begin the season, and his torrid pace even has The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, taking notice.
After a dazzling four-point showing in the Oilers’ 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, McDavid is up to 44 points through 17 games. He has more assists (34) than any other player in the league has points, and is on pace for a record-setting 217 points.
That mark would surpass the record currently held by Oilers legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Gretzky, whose 215 points in 80 games in the 1985-86 campaign with Edmonton stands as the single-season record to this day.
“It’s incredible. He’s a tremendous young man, he’s obviously a great hockey player, and what he’s doing is truly remarkable,” Gretzky said of McDavid’s start to the season on Friday. “Today the athletes, and I say this with a great deal of respect, as time goes on, the equipment gets better, the athletes get bigger and better, the game gets better, and it’s all positive. And what he’s doing now is remarkable.”
McDavid has recorded at least one point in every game so far this season, and has tallied three or more points in seven of 17 games thus far. His points total leads the league by 13, and he is trailed by linemate Leon Draisaitl (31) and Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard (30) for the top three spots in the NHL.
McDavid credited his teammates for his success earlier in the season.
“I think [Draisaitl] and I, when we did play together it was just a one-off or a situation where we needed to find one and we knew it wasn’t necessarily a long-term thing,” McDavid said. “So, to be able to have a stretch of games playing together - who knows what happens moving forward - but playing together has been so much fun, obviously, along with [Vasily Podkolzin] and [Mattias Ekholm] and [Evan Bouchard].
“I’ve said all along being out there with those guys, everybody knows where each other is, everybody has been reading off each other, playing fast, and everybody can make a play. It’s a pretty fun group to be out there with.”
The Oilers are off to a scorching 11-3-3 start to open the campaign, tied with the Minnesota Wild for the top spot in the Western Conference and trailing only the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes for the most points in the NHL.
Gretzky led the Oilers to four Stanley Cup titles over his nine seasons in Edmonton, and the franchise has not won a title since the 1990 season, two years after Gretzky departed to join the Los Angeles Kings.
Now, The Great One is seeing a fire in McDavid that he thinks could help return the Oilers, who lost back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers in 2024 and ‘25, back to the promised land.
“More importantly he’s a wonderful young man, and what he’s doing for his hockey team, for the game, for the city of Edmonton - it’s unmatched right now,” Gretzky said. “He’s on a mission to win a Stanley Cup, he wants it desperately, and that’s what you need out of your best player and your captain. You need that leadership that you want to get to that next level, and he has that in him.”