Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been named one of the top athletes of the 2000s by ESPN.
McDavid came in at No. 98 on their list that has so far seen 49 athletes named. The only other hockey player in the first half of ESPN’s list is Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin.
When it came to the Oilers superstar, however, ESPN’s Kristen Shilton said McDavid has embraced his role as The Next One.
It could be daunting to be touted as The Next One behind Edmonton Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky. McDavid isn’t like the rest, though. Edmonton’s captain has embraced that spotlight as Gretzky’s heir apparent. It was fitting when McDavid broke a record Gretzky set in 1987-88 with his 32nd assist of the 2024 postseason during Edmonton’s run to a Stanley Cup Final. McDavid had long been an exceptional playmaker in his own right, but the way he carried the Oilers back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Final to force a decisive Game 7 was spectacular. And it rightly earned McDavid a Conn Smythe Trophy in the losing effort.
The key accomplishments ESPN listed for McDavid include five Art Ross Trophies, three Hart Trophies, seven 100-point campaigns and his most recent award, a Conn Smythe Trophy.
It didn’t take long for McDavid to make his mark on the hockey world after the Oilers drafted him first overall in the 2015 draft, racking up 16 goals and 48 points in 45 games in his rookie season that was cut short due to a broken collarbone.
All McDavid has done is produce points since entering the league, scoring 335 goals and 982 points across 645 regular season games over the last nine years. He’s also established himself as one of the greatest playoff performers in NHL history, scoring 37 goals and 117 points in 74 games, posting a 1.58 points-per-game rate. He’s lapped other players since 2015 in terms of point production, scoring 141 more points than Leon Draisatil, who has the second most points since then, and a staggering 184 more than Nathan MacKinnon, who ranks third.
And while McDavid ranks 23rd in the NHL in scoring since the year 2000, his 1.52 points per game average is a staggering quarter of a point more than the second-placed Sidney Crosby, who has scored 1596 points in 1272 games, good enough for a 1.25 point per game average. McDavid has also doubled the point-per-game average for the NHL’s top 200 point producers since the year 2000, with the average rate being .75 points per game.
He also ranks 17th in playoff points since 2000, but once again, his point-per-game rate towers over any other player. McDavid has scored a 1.58-point per-game pace in the playoffs, with Draisaitl’s 1.46 coming in second, and MacKinnon’s 1.3 coming in third.
There are likely to be more hockey players coming in on ESPN’s list, with Crosby being a near sure-fire lock to be the highest rated. Others who could make the like are Joe Thornton, Patrick Kane, Jarome Iginla and Nick Lindstrom, among others.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
