At this point, we must carve out a minute simply to appreciate Connor McDavid’s magic.
McDavid recorded his second five-point game of the fledgling season on Saturday during Edmonton’s 6-2 smashing of a good Mammoth club in Utah. McDavid is up to 23 points through eight contests, and the only player in the history of the league to better that pace is Mario Lemieux.
If you can believe it, No. 66 put up 27 points in eight games in both 1995-96 and 1992-93, while — wait for it — producing 31 points in eight games to begin the 1988-89 campaign.
During that latter season, Lemieux nearly became the second player in NHL history to record a 200-point season when he finished with 199 in 76 games.
Just over 35 years later, we can officially sit here and wonder if McDavid can join Wayne Gretzky as the second member of the 200-point club. (Gretzky did it four times, all in five seasons from 1981-82 through 1985-86.)
McDavid has a little extra grace as the NHL features an 84-game schedule this season, four more than the 80-game slate Gretzky was playing in the early 1980s.
Sure, the double-century club feels unattainable, but McDavid could be held off the scoresheet in his next game and still be on pace for 215 points. And if he happens to pick up a couple points in each of his next two outings, he’ll be tracking better than a 225-point showing.
Listen, everyone should probably be taking the under on 199.5 points for No. 97, but the fact we’re even having this conversation is a reminder not to — with his 30th birthday about three months away — take one second of McDavid’s play for granted.
If he wins his seventh Art Ross Trophy this spring, McDavid will be all by himself in second place on the all-time list with seven scoring titles. Gretzky finished with 10, a number it certainly seems like McD could match — even exceed — when it’s all said and done.
Of course, when he’s playing like this — levitating above everybody in a talent-rich league — it only reinforces the happy notion that McDavid’s final chapter should still be miles away.
Weekend takeaways
• Looking at the Atlantic Division standings from top to bottom, you could make a cause that — right here, right now — the only truly surprising slot for a team is the Boston Bruins sitting atop the penthouse. The B’s, of course, were a playoff squad last season and certainly entered this year with reason to believe they could repeat that showing. That said, they also started the year knowing they’d be without stud defenceman Charlie McAvoy for six games thanks a suspension stemming from last spring’s first-round loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
On Saturday, Boston completed a three-game sweep of the California clubs with a 4-1 win over L.A. The victory was the fifth consecutive W for the Bruins, who are tied with Edmonton for the third-best five-on-five goal differential (plus-11) in the NHL.
Jeremy Swayman is playing like a true Vezina contender; new captain David Pastrnak is driving the offence; Fraser Minten looks more and more like a two-way, top-six centre by the game; rookie James Hagens has six points in nine outings; and McAvoy has returned to play 25 minutes per game and put up three points in his first three outings.
It may be tough for Boston to maintain a hold on first in the Atlantic, but this fantastic start means a return trip to the playoffs — possibly with home-ice advantage — just got a lot more achievable.
• The hats are absolutely flying in South Florida, as a trio of players have stepped up to drive the offence in the absence of Aleksander Barkov. On Saturday, Carter Verhaeghe made league history by scoring the Cats’ third natural hat trick in as many games, following the scoring exploits of Brady Tkachuk earlier in the week. Verhaeghe’s hatty came in an 8-3 beat down of Seattle, a game that also featured a three-goal performance by Sam Bennett. In all, four players — Brady Tkachuk, Verhaeghe, Bennett and Sam Reinhart — have scored 17 of Florida’s past 18 goals.
Red and white power rankings
1. Edmonton Oilers (6-1-1) If you wipe the first two games of the year off the board, the Oilers rank second in the NHL in goals allowed per game (1.83). They’ll get a couple good challenges at home this week with Minnesota on Tuesday, followed by the Stanley Cup-champion Hurricanes on Thursday as Edmonton begins a stretch of five straight games at Rogers Place.
2. Montreal Canadiens (4-3-1) Zach Bolduc has come out of the gate very strong in his second season with the Habs. The 23-year-old potted his fourth goal of the year during Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win versus the Sabres and he’s been doing great work on the “French Connection Line” of Phillip Danault between Bolduc and Alexandre Texier.
3. Winnipeg Jets (4-2-2) Tuesday in St. Louis marks the start of a stretch where the Jets will play six of eight away from home. The next two weeks could be very interesting for this club, as the rubber hits the road with Connor Hellebuyck and the team gets a big test on the schedule.
4. Ottawa Senators (6-3-0) All the talk this week will focus on Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa on Wednesday, but the bigger issue for the Sens is this injury bug that won’t stop biting. With Jake Sanderson yet to return, new captain Thomas Chabot left Saturday’s loss to Philly with an upper-body injury.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (3-4-2) On Tuesday, the Leafs will travel to Columbus to visit the Blue Jackets and old friend Matthew Knies. You know Knies would love to make the cannon fire against his old mates, while former Jacket Kirill Marchenko will be looking to do damage against in the city he didn’t want to call home.
6. Calgary Flames (2-6-0) Calgary began a four-game homestand with its first domestic victory of the season on Sunday, downing the Hurricanes 3-2. Can the Flames string together a couple more wins when in Southern Alberta for the next little while?
7. Vancouver Canucks (2-7-1) Quinn Hughes will play his first NHL game as the visitor in Vancouver on Sunday, when the Wild visit B.C. Perhaps Canucks fans would feel a little better about welcoming back their former captain if Zeev Buium — the young D-man who came to Vancouver in the trade the shipped Hughes to Minny — could more consistently show the attributes that made him an appealing get.
The week ahead
• The top two picks in the 2026 NHL Draft will square off on Monday night, when Ivar Stenberg’s San Jose Sharks visit Gavin McKenna and the Maple Leafs. While we had talk in Toronto about McKenna being stapled to the bench last week, Stenberg has gone 1-1-2 in two of his past three outings, including in Detroit on Saturday.
• You can bet on Cutter Gauthier hearing it from the Philly fans when the Ducks visit the Flyers on Saturday afternoon, but what about Leo Carlsson? At one point last summer, Flyers backers could dream about what their team would look like with Carlsson at the top of the lineup. Of course, Anaheim matched Philadelphia’s big offer sheet and now Flyers fans are left watching their team’s miserable start with no 1C in sight. Will Carlsson bear the brunt of their frustrations?
• Twenty-three years after the first Heritage Classic featured the Habs and Oilers at frigid Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, the Canadiens and Jets will take it outside on Sunday afternoon at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium. The contest will mark the 46th outdoor clash in NHL history, with two more slated for later this season.
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