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On Monday night, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid picked up his 100th assist in a 9-2 thumping of the last-placed San Jose Sharks.
He was on the verge of capturing his fourth consecutive Art Ross Trophy a week ago. However, he suffered a lower-body injury against the Calgary Flames. That forced him to miss two games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes.
While he was gone, Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) scored at torrid paces. Their scores left him to settle for third place in the scoring race.
Despite what was bothering McDavid, he returned on Monday to collect his 100th assist. He became only the fourth player in NHL history to reach the milestone behind Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
Earlier on Monday, Kucherov went into his game with 98 assists and had a chance to become the fourth player. But he only picked up one helper in his contest against the Buffalo Sabres.
In the end, he beat out Kucherov to 100 assists. But the Lightning forward is all but a lock to take the Art Ross Trophy away from the reigning champion. He has a four-point cushion on MacKinnon and a 10-point lead on the Oilers' captain.
How impressive is Connor McDavid's 100-assist season?
After Monday, McDavid has skated in 75 games this season and collected a point in 64 of them. That means he's found the scoresheet in 85.3% of the games.
Overall, he's set up a teammate for a goal in 57 games, or 76% of the time. One of the best benefactors of his vision of the ice is Zach Hyman, who has scored a career-high 54 goals. He surpassed his previous best of 36, set in 2022-23.
As a routine 20-goal scorer, Hyman has benefited enormously from his captain's helpers (35), which account for 64.8% of his goal totals this season.
Similarly, when Lemieux had 116 assists in 1988-89, one of the biggest benefactors was Rob Brown, who never scored over 33 goals in a single season. The exception here is 1988-89, when Lemieux set him up for 29 of his 49 goals, equalling 59.1%.
When McDavid is skating, he evaluates everyone in the lineup, whether Evander Kane or Cody Ceci. Whenever he gets the puck on his stick, it's wise for everyone to get open because he will find you for a tap-in goal.
After a slow start, with just 35 assists from October to December, the Oilers struggled to keep above water with an 18-15-1 record. However, since New Year's Day, he's compiled 65 helpers, and Edmonton has been one of the better teams in the league at 31-10-5.
As remarkable as this personal milestone is, McDavid and the Oilers haven't played in the Stanley Cup Final yet. The lack of championships is a blemish on his legacy, as it was for 800-goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, who didn't win a championship until his 13th season.
