The Stanley Cup final could end at any day now, so Carol Schram flashes back to the regular season to look at the most memorable stats, records and milestones.
We're nearing the end, my friends.
Whether the Stanley Cup final ends up going five, six or seven games, our champion will be crowned by the time next week's Stat Pack drops.
With that in mind, this seemed like the right time to look back on some of the most scintillating numbers from the 2022-23 regular season — a year that was highlighted by plenty of standout performances. Also check out last week's Stat Pack on the key numbers from this year's playoffs.
Goals Goals Goals
Extending a trend that has spanned the last seven seasons, scoring was up again in the NHL. The average of 6.36 goals per game was up from 6.29 in 2021-22 — which doesn't look like much of an increase but works out to an extra 91 total goals. And that's the highest rate of production in more than a generation since the 1993-94 season when the New York Rangers broke their 50-year Stanley Cup curse, and the league average was 6.48 goals per game.
Power plays were also up to 6.14 opportunities per game. The last time we saw a rate like that was in the 2015-16 season (6.22), but power-play efficiency is better than it was then and better than it has been in decades.
NHL teams converted on 21.31 percent of their power-play chances this season — the fourth time in the last six years that they've exceeded 20 percent but also the highest success rate in nearly 40 years. In 1985-86, power plays were at 22.2 percent league-wide as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were at the peak of their powers. Philadelphia's Tim Kerr also set the all-time record that year with 34 power-play goals.
Ilya Kovalchuk's 27 power-play goals with the Atlanta Thrashers were the most for any player in this millennium until this year when Leon Draisaitl got to within two goals of Kerr's record at 32.
Connor McDavid's 71 power-play points this season were also the fourth-most of all time, but he's behind only one player. Lemieux holds all three top spots in the record book with 80 power-play points in 1987-88 and 79 in both 1995-96 and 1988-89.
McDavid and Karlsson's Historic Seasons
While we're on the subject of McDavid, let's not brush past his fifth Art Ross Trophy in his eight-year career. McDavid needed only 100 points to win his first scoring title in his sophomore season.
This year, 11 players hit triple digits, and McDavid bested his original standard by 53 percent to finish 25 points ahead of Draisaitl and 40 points ahead of anybody who wasn't on his team (David Pastrnak and Nikita Kucherov had 113 points each).
McDavid also more than doubled his goal total from his first Art Ross year and added 20 to his previous best of 44. He surged past the 50-goal mark in late February on his way to a league-leading 64-goal campaign.
While McDavid is still improving year-over-year, we have seen Erik Karlsson put up big offensive numbers in the past. But the two-time Norris Trophy winner peaked at 82 points in 2015-16 before delivering a stunning 101-point campaign for the San Jose Sharks this year. That was 25 points more than his closest defense challengers (Quinn Hughes and Josh Morrissey, with 76 points each) and the most by a defenseman since Brian Leetch put up 102 points for the New York Rangers in the 1991-92 season.
Sorry, Roman Josi. Your 96-point campaign from 2021-22 is now all but forgotten.
Another thing that's so incredible about Karlsson's season: his numbers this year exceeded his last three seasons combined in all categories.
Over 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, Karlsson played 158 games. He put up a total of 24 goals and 73 assists for 97 points.
This year, a healthy Karlsson played all 82 games and saw his average ice time hit its highest level in his five seasons with San Jose – 25:37 per game.
Final totals: 25 goals and 76 assists for 101 points. On top of that, the 32-year-old is also the oldest defenseman ever to join the century club.
On the Record
Though their playoff run didn't go the way they hoped, the Boston Bruins did set two big regular-season records this year. Their 65 wins are the most ever, beating out the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62 wins).
If it's any consolation for the Bruins, those two teams didn't win the Cup, either.
Boston's 135 points are also the most in NHL history. They edged out the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (132 points), but because the schedule at that time was only 80 games, that Habs team — which did win the Stanley Cup — also still holds the highest-ever points percentage of .825, slightly above this year's Bruins' .823.
Individual records that were set during the season include Phil Kessel's ironman mark for most consecutive games played. The 35-year-old is at 1,064 games and counting, obliterating the mark of 989 that Keith Yandle set just one year earlier.
And while Kessel hasn't dressed for Vegas since Game 4 of the first round against Winnipeg, his regular-season streak is still active. His ice time this season dropped to a career low of 12:49 per game, and he's on his way to becoming a UFA, so it'll be interesting to see where he lands next year.
Alex Ovechkin's quest to beat Gretzky's goals record will also continue next season under new coach Spencer Carbery in Washington. At 37, Ovechkin missed nine games due to injury in 2022-23, a high number for him. But he still led the Capitals with 42 goals, 19 more than second-place Dylan Strome.
As well as passing Gordie Howe to move into second place on the all-time goals list, Ovechkin also set a new NHL record for most career 40-goal seasons, with 13. That beat Gretzky's old record of 12.
Ovechkin ended the season at 822 career goals, so he needs another 72 to match Gretzky and 73 to beat him.
Two more years?