The watch is on.
If Connor McDavid gets 18 points in the first 10 Edmonton Oilers games this month, he’ll hit 1,000 and become the third fastest to reach the plateau.
The 27-year-old went into the Oilers season-opener Wednesday with 982 points (335 goals and 647 assists) in his 645 games.
Yeah, 18 points in 10 games seems like reaching for the moon for mere mortals, but not for No. 97, whose first NHL point came on Oct. 13, 2015, his third NHL game, a deflection as he slid through the high slot to get his stick on an Andrej Sekera point shot in Dallas.
“Doesn’t surprise me at all he’s closing in on 1,000. He’s always been special,” said Winnipeg defenceman Josh Morrissey, a teammate of 97’s on several Canadian junior teams.
“I saw Connor face-to-face for the first time at U18s when I was 17 and he was 15, two years younger than us. He had just finished his first season in the OHL, as an exceptional player, and he led our U18 team in scoring at the tournament. You could see the magic, even at 15,” said Morrissey.
“Then I played two world juniors with Connor. It’s been fun to watch.”
The late Hall of Fame right-winger Mike Bossy, who died of lung cancer at 65 on April 15, 2022, is currently third all-time. He hit 1,000 points two days after his 29th birthday, in his 656th New York Islanders game, on Jan. 24, 1986. It was an assist on a Bryan Trottier goal against Washington.
Wayne Gretzky is No. 1, getting to 1,000 at home in his 424th Oilers game on Dec. 19, 1984, an assist on an early Mike Krushelnyski goal against Los Angeles Kings — one of Gretzky’s six points that night in a 7-3 Oilers drubbing of L.A. He was 23 years old.
Mario Lemieux hit 1,000 in his 513th game for Pittsburgh on March 24, 1992, getting his 40th goal of the season, a high shot that beat Detroit’s Tim Cheveldae. Lemieux was 26.
Jari Kurri, Gretzky’s longtime Oilers right-winger, hit 1,000 when he was 29, setting up Esa Tikkanen in St. Louis, in Kurri’s 716th game.
CONGRATS BUDDY
Morrissey’s best friend outside the Jets is Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl, after they were junior teammates in Prince Albert and Kelowna.
“I did send him a text (after he signed his new extension for $14 million a year). He deserves it,” said Morrissey, one of the NHL’s most underrated blueliners.
Morrissey goes back a long way with Draisaitl, just like with McDavid.
He remembers Draisaitl coming over from Europe as a teenager, and was keen to see his skill set. Both were 17 years old, Morrissey in his draft year and Leon with another year to go.
“We had heard the rumours about Leon being the German Gretzky. He had the long paddle of a blade, something I’d never seen before. It was from a German company, I think it was his dad’s buddy. You’re going, ‘What’s going on here?” Then he goes on the ice and he’s saucing the puck over everyone around the whole ice. Within two minutes, we’re thinking, ‘OK, we understand what the hype’s all about.’ ’’
“For me it was instant chemistry between us. We basically played every shift together for a few years and I definitely reaped the benefits of coming in late on the rush and he would be backhand saucing the puck 80 feet across the ice to me,” said Morrissey.
When asked if he saw Draisaitl’s scoring ability, too, he’s not sure.
“I don’t want to say I didn’t but his mind for the game is next level, amongst best in the world, obviously. As great as that one-timer he has, scoring goals from that one spot with Connor … I think it’s his hockey sense to go where to be open,” said Morrissey.
“I always thought he’d be a 100-point guy but I didn’t know he’d be a 50-goal player, too. I thought it was more the passing side, but testament to him (for goals). It’s a different creative thought process to be able to shoot from where he does, with the skill to back it up.”
But the paddle, it’s the most unusual blade in the NHL, as it was in their WHL years.
“I remember in our practices we would switch sticks. I’ve got a pretty standard curve but I would go in to shoot with his paddle and there was no real curve The puck would just slide off the toe. Maybe this is a question for goalies: Most players have similar curves and maybe the goalies can read those shots better than they can Leon’s. It’s such a unique release because of the curve,” said Morrissey.
WELCOME BACK
As expected, the Oilers reclaimed winger Raphael Lavoie Wednesday when Vegas tried to send him down to their AHL farm club in nearby Henderson, after taking Lavoie off the Oilers list Monday. But hold on: the Oilers can’t just automatically send Lavoie to Bakersfield because another unnamed NHL team above them in the pecking order also put in a claim.
The eight teams above the Oilers would be the Rangers, Dallas, Carolina, Winnipeg, Florida, Vancouver, Boston and Colorado. It might be the Avs putting in a claim. They’re very thin at forward right now.
So, for now, Lavoie is on the Oilers roster. Using his $775,000, they still have $288,719 in cap space, according to PuckPedia.
To get Lavoie, who has scored 53 goals the past two minor-league seasons, to Bakersfield, Lavoie would have to go back on waivers.
You following all of that?
Lavoie is a big-time offensive threat in the AHL but can’t crack the top-six here on right wing, with Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson holding those spots. Realistically, unless he learns to kill penalties to be a fourth-line player here, he has little chance of playing significant Oilers games, barring injuries.
“We weren’t looking to lose him (originally). We’ve invested a lot of time in him and he had a good camp,” GM Stan Bowman told radio host Jason Gregor on Sports 1440.
This ‘n that: Defenceman Travis Dermott, Brett Kulak’s third-pairing partner in the opener against Winnipeg, has a two-way contract after his camp tryout. It’s $775,000 to play here and $500,000 if playing in Bakersfield. That’s a ton of minor-league money for a two-way. It’s the same contract as former Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto got from Utah, both after camp professional tryouts … Stuart Skinner’s agent Ray Petkau has undoubtedly been following the goalie signings — Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark at $8.25 million average annual value and Seattle’s Joey Daccord at $5 million AAV over five years. Skinner, making $2.6 million, has this season and next on his Oilers contract but if he has another good season in 2024-25 and the Oilers want to work on an extension next summer, the bar is set awfully high for him, maybe $7 million … The previous two seasons the Oilers only dressed 17 skaters in their season opening game against Vancouver Canucks because of illness/injury and cap issues, but they had the regular 18 against Jets on Wednesday … Wingers Matt Savoie and Cameron Wright, physically recalled for cap reasons to put them on the opening-season roster, have both returned to Bakersfield … The Jets certainly won that Pierre-Luc Dubois Los Angeles trade in 2023 because the three forwards they got in the deal — Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari — were all playing against the Oilers. Dubois is now with Washington. Kupari is a fourth-line centre or extra NHL forward with the Jets, though. Kupari went 28 games last year without a goal for Winnipeg … The Jets are still carrying three goalies. They will be putting Eric Comrie, who backed up Connor Hellebuyck here, or Kaapo Kahkonen on waivers, maybe on Thursday.