We have just witnessed one of the most memorable playoff runs in National Hockey League history.
By translating his individual success into collective success, leading the Oilers through four rounds of the playoffs with 42 points in 23 games, Connor McDavid cemented his status as the best player in the NHL.
Some would argue that he may simply be the most dominant player to ever lace up skates in the long history of the sport.
Nobody does what he does. No one has done it for a long time. We’re talking about a pace comparable to all but two spring performances from Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux – in another era!
Even without a Stanley Cup ring in 2024, the Conn Smythe Trophy, though a consolation prize, is an indelible mark of a memorable spring.
A select club probably temporary
14 active NHL players who have played a minimum of 500 NHL games currently average more than one point per game over their careers.
We are talking about a select club. Only 50 now retired players have managed to maintain this average during their career, and 37 of them achieved the feat by playing more than 1000 matches.
There is, however, an even more exclusive club that denies entry to every player in NHL history… except three. The three most statistically dominant players to ever set foot on a rink in this league.
Thanks to an exceptional season during which he collected 100 assists, Connor McDavid invites himself for the moment alongside Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, the only two forwards to end their careers with an average of more than one assist per game.
With 647 assists in 645 games, McDavid is obviously far from assured of maintaining this pace until his retirement. After all, the Oilers captain has recorded an assist per game in only three of his nine seasons thus far.
However, that does not change the fact that it is totally ri-di-cu-le that he accomplishes this feat of arms during his career, considering to what extent it was unimaginable before his arrival in the Bettman circuit.
Domination among active players
McDavid is well ahead of second-place Sidney Crosby, who has averaged 0.79 assists per game since being drafted.
Except that in addition to eclipsing the competition when it comes to distribution, McDavid only lets two players surpass him in goals, Auston Matthews and Alexander Ovechkin.
And let’s hear each other. If Connor decided to score more, he will simply score more. In 2022-2023, he finished the season with 64 goals – 24 more than Auston Matthews, the “league’s leading scorer”, in addition to being 4 points from doubler his amount of passes.
Connor McDavid is in a universe of his own, destined for immortality.
His talent offers him a (very) rare chance to solidify the top-3 and more officially join Wayne and Mario at the end of his career.
So much so that we have to start wondering what would happen to his legacy in the catastrophic scenario where he never hoists the Stanley Cup.
The Avenue to Mount Rushmore
After nine seasons under Mc’s leadershipJesusthe Edmonton Oilers have just won their first collective trophy, the King Clancy. Besides this, the captain has not collected what individual trophies, more than anyone could hope for.
Let’s imagine a hypothetical, but not at all far-fetched, world in which McDavid…
- adds 10 seasons of approximately 75 games to his career
- played a total of 1400 matches
- sees his production “drop” to 1.35 points per game during the second part of his career
- becomes the second player in history to reach 2000 points
- never win the Stanley Cup
Will he have dominated the circuit enough to be considered one of the few greatest players in NHL history?
I surveyed a few people.
Some think so. It is more difficult than before to be the team out of thirty-two that lifts the famous trophy. If he is undoubtedly the best player of his generation and perhaps one of the few best in history, he must be on Mount Rushmore.
Some people think not. After all, if you really are the best, wouldn’t you be supposed to end up winning? Aren’t we playing for the Stanley Cup? Is it not by lifting it that we materialize the legend?
I have no problem with either answer. It’s a healthy debate.
However, do you understand how improbable it is that the question really arises?
Could statistics alone give Connor McDavid a place on Mount Rushmore?
I think not, but the question arises, damn it!
What if he wins?
Let’s get this straight. If the above question arises, then another conversation is worth starting.
Does Connor McDavid have a real chance of dethroning Mario Lemieux?
Let’s take the CV used in the last paragraph, and add two championship rings to it.
The argument is logical.
Let’s go even further and add a third ring to it.
With three Cups in a league of 32 or more teams, can we almost say that he matches Gretzky’s four Cups in a league of 21 teams?
Would Gretzky’s unmatched points record be too much to let McDavid shifter?
I don’t know what kind of discussions we would have if this scenario came to fruition.
But the question arises.
With the 2024 Finals appearance, the Oilers may have unlocked their first real window of opportunity that will bring them within reach of the Cup multiple times in the coming years. Historically, the window for teams with a generational player opens for more than one appearance. Lemieux has won twice in a row. Crosby won his first Cup the year after his first loss. Gretzky has won 4 times in 5 years.
And who knows what McDavid will do on an international stage that has so far been taken away from him…
At the dawn of a 10th season during which he will celebrate 28 years, Connor McDavid possibly has the chance to become the greatest player in history if he succeeds in becoming a true leader which gives the city of Edmonton the same glory as #99 in the 1990s.
However, the machine must be activated in the coming years.
Not exciting at all, huh?
