How Connor McDavid is putting together the best single season of the salary-cap era

Playing in the NHL isn’t easy, but Connor McDavid makes it look like it. As of now, he’s outpacing the rest of the league every night, and he’s close to posting a record that hasn’t been seen in nearly three decades.

McDavid, the man who turned several major bounty races into postponement holidays, set a new career high in goals (54) and points (124) with 17 games remaining in the regular season. It’s only a matter of time before he hits his 80th assist to set a new career record in this category as well.

But it’s not just that McDavid is setting new personal records.

He is on track to have the best regular season of the wage cap era, with 68 goals, 88 assists and 156 points. If McDavid lives up to these predictions, Nikita Kucherov’s 2018/19 season with 128 points will be the only other with the same zip code.

If McDavid continues to score at such a mind-blowing rate, his 156 points will be the 14th highest scoring season in NHL history. The last time the NHL saw such numbers was in 1995-96, when Mario Lemieux scored 69 goals, 92 points and 161 points en route to winning the Hart Trophy.

Name	Season	Goals	Assists	points
Wayne Gretzky	1985-86	52	163	215
Wayne Gretzky	1981-82	92	120	212
Wayne Gretzky	1984-85	73	135	208
Wayne Gretzky	1983-84	87	118	205
Mario Lemieux	1988-89	85	114	199
Wayne Gretzky	1982-83	71	125	196
Wayne Gretzky	1986-87	62	121	183
Mario Lemieux	1987-88	70	98	168
Wayne Gretzky	1988-89	54	114	168
Wayne Gretzky	1980-81	55	109	164
Wayne Gretzky	1990-91	41	122	163
Mario Lemieux	1995-96	69	92	161
Mario Lemieux	1992-93	69	91	160
Connor McDavid*	2022-23	68	88	156
Steve Yzerman	1988-89	65	90	155

* forecast

McDavid has already established himself as the best player in the NHL right now. It’s been that way for several years now. The 2022-23 season was McDavid’s sixth to break the 100-point mark, and in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign, he scored 97 points in 64 games.

The bar was already astronomically high for McDavid at the start of the season, but he still surpassed it with ease. The difference is that McDavid developed his game to become the game’s top scorer in addition to becoming an elite distributor.

With 20% of the season remaining, McDavid has surpassed his previous career in goals (44) and dominates the Rocket Richard Trophy race. David Pastrnak, who has had a ridiculous season on his own, is still 10 points behind second-placed McDavid.

It may not be all that shocking, but McDavid always lit the lamp at high speed. Since the 2016/17 season, McDavid has scored at least 30 goals every year and has scored at least 40 goals four times. Even on a one-shot basis, McDavid often hit the net with a career hitting percentage of 15.6%.

What made McDavid’s 2022-23 season so special was his emphasis on pulling the trigger more often. Take a look at McDavid’s total career shots.

• 2015-16: 105 shots (2.33 shots per game)
• 2016-17: 251 shots (3.06 shots per game)
• 2017-18: 274 shots (3.34 shots per game)
• 2018-19: 240 shots (3.08 shots per game)
• 2019-20: 212 shots (3.13 shots per game)
• 2020-21: 200 shots (3.57 shots per game)
• 2021-22: 314 shots (3.93 shots per game)
• 2022-23: 288 shots (4.43 shots per game)

McDavid has been more of a shooter in the last couple of seasons, but this year he really took it to the next level. Perhaps the most impressive part of it all is that McDavid’s newfound love for shot count Not affected the quality of his shot.

McDavid still gets quality chances from the middle of the slot and right in front of the net, and his shooting percentage is actually the highest of his career at 18.8%. Even though some small part of this binge has to do with hitting the shot, it’s not surprising that when the best player in the world makes more quality shots, he scores more often.

With a recent surge in shooting and scoring, McDavid will have to bring an extra suitcase with him to the NHL Awards in June. He will take home the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy, as well as his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s leading scorer.

The only thing that could make this season even sweeter for McDavid is bring the Stanley Cup home to Edmonton, and if he continues to play like that, there’s no reason the Oilers can’t put up their first banner since 1990.