McDavid reaches 100 points
By Jason Gregor
7 years agoTonight, Connor McDavid became the eighth Edmonton Oiler and 107th player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season.
He is the sixth youngest to reach 100, doing it at 20 years and two months. Here are the only players to do the same at a younger age.
Sidney Crosby, 18 years 8 months.
Dale Hawerchuk, 18 years 11 months.
Wayne Gretzky, 19 years, 2 months.
Mario Lemieux, 19 years 6 months.
Jimmy Carson, 19 years 8 months.
Dale Hawerchuk, 18 years 11 months.
Wayne Gretzky, 19 years, 2 months.
Mario Lemieux, 19 years 6 months.
Jimmy Carson, 19 years 8 months.
Three Hall of Famers, and another one when Crosby retires. Not bad company.
Pierre Larouche, Alex Ovechkin, Pierre Turgeon, Joe Sakic and Rob Brown also reached 100 points before their 21st birthday.
McDavid joins Wayne Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Jimmy Carson and Doug Weight as the only Oilers to score 100 points in a season. Gretzky had 100+ points in all nine of his seasons in Edmonton and surpassed triple digits 15 times in his career.
Kurri reached 100 points six times as an Oilers, Messier did it five times, Coffey and Anderson three times, while Carson and Weight did it once. I highly doubt this is the only time McDavid will reach 100 points as an Oiler.
Phil Esposito was the first player to score 100 points in an NHL season, when he tallied his 100th point on March 2nd, 1969. He finished the season with 126 points. Bobby Hull (March 20th), and Gordie Howe (March 30th), also reached 100 points in 1969. Howe did it one day before his 41st birthday. He was so good.
The NHL had at least one player reach the century mark every year until 1995, when we had a lockout shortened 48-game season. Jaromir Jagr and Eric Lindros had 70 points in 48 games that season, and likely would have surpassed 100 points, but it was not meant to be (Bettman and the owners love their lockouts).
Scoring has become much harder in the 21st century.
In 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 (no season) 2008, 2013 (48-game season) and 2015, no player reached the 100-point plateau. In the past ten years the most points accumulated in one season was Evgeni Malkin’s 113 in 2009.
McDavid has the ability to surpass that, and I wonder if one year he matches or passes Joe Thornton’s 125 points in 2006. In the history of the NHL only 23 players have tallied 130 or more points in a season. Reaching 130 in today’s game would be a massive accomplishment, and McDavid has scored 25 points in the final 14 games of the season, which for fun prorates to 146 points in a season. Maybe 130 in a season isn’t out of the question.
As a huge proponent of offence I’d love to see it. Regardless of how many points he scores I think it is an extremely safe bet this won’t be the last time McDavid reaches 100 points.
100 Point Tidbits
- In 1983/1984 Wayne Gretzky scored his 100th point in his 34th game on December 18th. Seriously. He finished the season with 205 points in 74 games. Unreal.
- Gretzky also had seasons where he scored his 100th point in game 35, 38, 39, 42 and 43. The only other player to do it under 48 games was Mario Lemieux when he had 10o points in 36 games twice and once in 38. I always hear many say the 1980s were high scoring and that’s why Gretzky scored so much. The reality is between 1981 and 1989, when Gretzky’s point totals were 164, 212, 196, 205, 208, 215, 183, 149 (in 64 games) and 183, the only other players to have over 135 points in one season were Lemieux (168 and 141), Steve Yzerman (155), Bernie Nicholls (150 playing with Gretzky), and Mike Bossy 147. Gretzky was on a different level than anyone else in the 1980s. He scored 1,700 points in those nine seasons. Next highest was Peter Stastny with 986 points.
- McDavid is the 12th active player to reach 100 points. Jaromir Jagr and Sidney Crosby (5), Alex Ovechkin (4), Joe Thornton and Evgeni Malkin (3) and Henrik Sedin (112), Patrick Kane (106), Daniel Sedin (104), Nicklas Backstrom (101), Marian Hossa (100) and Eric Staal (100) did it once.
- Six players reached 100 points in a season they were traded: Gretzky, Thornton, Nicholls, Jean Ratelle, John Cullen and Teemu Selanne.
- Fifteen players have scored 100 points for two different teams: Gretzky, Messier, Coffey, Jagr, Selanne, Thornton, Adam Oates, Alex Mogilny, Doug Gilmour, Marcel Dionne, Mark Recchi, Mike Rogers, Pat Lafontaine, Pierre Turgeon and Ron Francis.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have had the most 100 point scorers. Twelve different players have scored 100 as a member of the Penguins: Lemieux, Jagr, Recchi, Brown, Francis, Coffey, Larouche, Malkin, Crosby, Jean Pronovost, Rick Tocchet and Kevin Stevens. Cullen had 94 points in 65 games before he was traded to Hartford at the deadline. He would have been the 13th Penguins to do it. The Bruins are second with nine different 100-point players and the Oilers are third with eight.
- It is interesting to note the Toronto Maple Leafs have only had two players with 100-point seasons: Doug Gilmour and Darryl Sittler did it twice each in Toronto. The Canadiens have had four 100-point players. The Flames have had six, the Canucks five, the Jets three and the Senators two.
- Current organizations in Florida, Nashville, Columbus, Minnesota, Arizona, Dallas and New Jersey have yet to have a 100-point scorer.
- McDavid also won his first Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer in the NHL. He is the 29th player to win the award, and next season he will have a chance to be the first back-to-back winner since Jaromir Jagr in 2000 and 2001.
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