Can Connor McDavid Reach 200 Points This Season?

Connor McDavid is off to a start the NHL hasn’t seen in decades, and the question is whether he can reach and exceed 200 points.

McDavid has 26 points in nine games, a pace of about 243 over a full season. Only Wayne Gretzky has topped 200 points, doing it four times with a high of 215 in 1985-86. Mario Lemieux came closest among others with 199 in 1988-89.

Nobody has come near that in the salary-cap era, but there's a feeling, even with fewer than 10 games played in the season, that McDavid could do it.

The Oilers captain is the only player to pass 150 since 2004-05, with 153 in 2022-23. Last season, he had 138. A two-points-per-game average feels like a bankable prediction; he's averaging nearly three right now. Still, every season has its ups and downs. 

Even reaching 200 would be a stretch. One could argue that two five-point games and a four-point night have inflated his totals. Then again, he scored three points against a tough Minnesota Wild team on Tuesday, and his line was dominated at 5-on-5. It only took a couple of power plays for him to exceed his average pace. He is producing at 2.89 points per game. He would need about 2.40 per game the rest of the way.

If the Oilers keep McDavid with Leon Draisaitl, he'll keep scoring. As Edmonton gets all its players back for its top-unit power play, numbers on the man advantage could climb. One could argue the environment is right for McDavid to score at an even higher clip than he is now. 

Again, we have to account for the dryspells; and there will be a couple. 

Scoring is also lower than in Gretzky’s era, and McDavid said he cares more about how the game feels than about numbers. He's not concerned with his personal totals as long as the Oilers keep winning. At 7-1-1, it's hard to argue with the results, but he's prepared to sacrifice his own numbers to pick up more wins. 

Where do you think McDavid finishes? Can he get to 200 points? Will he score even more than that?

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