Leon Draisaitl hits 800-point mark for NHL career

Leon Draisaitl reached the 800-point mark for his NHL career during the Edmonton Oilers’ matinee game with the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

He came into the game with 798 points, two shy of becoming the 184th player in league history to record at least 800 points. Draisaitl’s 799th point was an assist on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ game-opening goal in the first period and his 800th came on a power play one-timer in the second.

Draisaitl is just the sixth player to reach 800 points while playing with the Oilers. Wayne Gretzky (1,669 points with the Oilers), Jari Kurri (1,043 points), Mark Messier (1,034 points), Connor McDavid (913 points and counting), and Glenn Anderson (906 points) are the others who have done so.

The Oilers selected Draisaitl with the third-overall pick in the 2014 draft and he made his NHL debut the following season. A few years later, Draisaitl broke out with 29 goals and 77 points and helped the Oilers end a playoff drought that had lasted over a decade. Since then, he’s developed into one of the league’s best offensive producers, as he’s reached the 50-goal mark three times and the 100-point mark four times.

It’s fitting that this feat came against the Predators, a team that Draisaitl has dominated throughout his career. Draisaitl came into this game with 24 goals in 25 games against Nashville, the most of any opponent he’s faced.

The Oilers had a stretch against Nashville where the Preds didn’t beat them in regulation for over five years, with Edmonton going 10-0-2. Over those 12 games, Draisaitl scored an absurd 22 goals while also racking up 34 points. He nearly singlehandedly outscored the Preds during that run, as Nashville combined for 28 goals in those 12 games.

Nashville broke that streak with a 5-2 win in Edmonton back in early November. Draisaitl was held off of the scoresheet in that game and it marked the first time since October of 2018 that the Predators beat the Oilers in regulation.

The Preds couldn’t shut down Draisaitl in back-to-back games. Maybe this will be the start of a new stretch of dominance against Nashville for Draisaitl and the Oilers.