When the news broke that Connor McDavid broke his hand in a fight, the main concern at the time was making sure he got healthy as quickly as possible. Any thoughts of winning the scoring title took a back seat. It’s time to bring this conversation back to the front seat.
Since the McDavid injury, 2 players, Mitch Marner and Dylan Strome, have been at or near the top of the scoring race. Marner currently leads Strome by 2 points, 100-98. The prevailing thought was this would be a 2 horse race to the finish. Turns out this race has 3 horses. The 3rd horse, is Connor McDavid.
Marner is currently the only player in the OHL with 100 points. He got there in 50 games. Strome has his 98 points in 54 games. Marner’s London Knights have 13 games left. Strome’s Erie Otters have 14 games left. That puts Marner on pace for 126 points, and Strome for 124. Despite missing 6 weeks, McDavid is on the same kind of pace as both Marner and Strome.
McDavid’s Insane Scoring Pace
McDavid started the season on an incredible scoring pace, racking up 51 points in his 1st 18 games, an average of 2.83 points/game. Then came the punch heard around the hockey world. It ultimately cost McDavid 20 games. In the 16 games since his return, he has racked up 35 points.
McDavid has 86 points in 34 games, an average of 2.53 points/game. If he continues at this pace, he will finish the season with 122 points. Given that he was near 3 points a game earlier in the season, it would be not surprising to see McDavid complete the comeback.
McDavid also has something else going for him in this. The Erie Otters schedule the rest of the way is somewhat favorable. The Otters have no more games against the big powerhouse teams, such as the Oshawa Generals, and Ste St Marie Greyhounds. Considering the fact that McDavid has points in 33 of his 34 games, you have to like his chances of piling on points.
This scoring race will be fascinating to watch all the way to the end. There even exists the chance that teammates McDavid and Strome will be the top 2 scorers in the league. Knowing how each player is, the important part to them is not who finishes 1st. The important part is how the team is doing heading into the playoffs. It goes to show you not only the kind of players they are, but the kind of people they are.
McDavid has already proven his point. Had he been healthy the whole season, he would be on pace for 172 points. That would be 36 more than the next closest player, Mitch Marner. This is another reason added to the long list of reasons why Connor McDavid will go 1st in this upcoming draft. Nobody thought McDavid could win the scoring title missing 6 weeks of the season. If that doesn’t quantify McDavid’s greatness, I’m not sure what will.
It will be close, if the averages keep up to what they are. The thing that you can’t equate is how much desire and sacrifice there is to win the scoring title and games. I thought for sure I would see Marner cheating by leaving the zone early or back tracking slow, and McDavid playing a mature style. This weekend was surprised to see the opposite. I watched McDavid actually poaching the other night with the opposition’s net empty trying to keep his point streak alive, and in the other game watched Marner actually blocking three shots in one shift. These two I think are two most talented in the draft, not to mention huge hockey IQ’s.