October 29, 2022 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is the most statistically dominant player in the world.

At age 25, McDavid has four Art Ross Trophies as scoring champion, two Hart Memorial Trophies as most valuable player, three Ted Lindsay Awards as most outstanding players as judged by the NHLPA, and five 100-point seasons. The only other player in NHL history who has accomplished each of the feats by the same age is Wayne Gretzky.

His resume is already Hockey Hall of Fame worthy. But there are still two regular season individual honours McDavid surely wants to achieve in his career: winning a Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as leading goal scorer and a 50-goal season.

McDavid leads the NHL with eight goals in eight games after scoring a hat trick in the Oilers 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. It was his 12th career NHL hat trick and second of the season.

Leon Draisaitl, a two-time 50-goal scorer, thinks McDavid could score 60 goals every season if he wanted to.

“This summer, I said to [McDavid] that he needs to score 60 goals, because I know that he can,” Draisaitl told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman during the the European Players’ Media Tour in August. “I think he should be every year, he’s just that unselfish. He said ‘I know, I know.’ He knows. But that was something I was honest with him about.”

McDavid looks primed to score 50 goals

While he’s undoubtedly a pass-first player, McDavid has steadily become a greater scoring threat throughout his eight-year NHL career. McDavid scored a career-best 44 goals in 80 games in 2021-22, and his exceptional start to this season suggests he could soon be joining the exclusive 50-goal club.

The Oilers captain needs just 42 goals in the final 74 games to reach the 50-goal plateau. So, if he can maintain a 0.57 goals-per-game average the rest of way (a slight uptick from his 2021-22 pace), McDavid should hit the milestone in 2022-23.

McDavid totaled 314 shots last season, one of only six players in the league that sent at least 300 pucks on net. However, his shooting percentage dipped to 14.0 percent, the second-lowest of his career. He’s a career 15.2 percent shooter with seasons of 17.1, 16.5 and 16.0 prior to the 2021-22 campaign.

His shooting percentage has been off the charts in October at 27.6 percent. That’s not sustainable, even for the best player in the world. But I expect he will have more than 300 shots on goal again, and finish somewhere around 16.5 percent of those attempts.

McDavid can score in different ways

No one is better at generating scoring opportunities for themselves than McDavid. No. 97 possesses unmatched speed and lateral agility when skating with the puck, making him almost impossible to contain off the rush. His supernatural first step quickness and superb hands allow him to change direction on a dime in the offensive zone and work his way into dangerous areas.

The three-time 40-goal scorer also owns a quick and accurate wrist shot that can beat goalies clean from the slot, even in full flight. His cross-body one-timer is another weapon that often catches goalies off guard, because they don’t expect him to be able to generate that type of shot velocity from a standstill position.

Related: Connor McDavid named NHL Second Star of the Week

McDavid already has two empty-net markers this season, too. The Oilers are a talented team, so they are going to have the lead late in games often. If one of his teammates is able to steal the puck with the opposition’s goalie pulled, all they have to do is chip it out to open ice and McDavid will win a race to the puck for an automatic goal.

Rocket Man

When listing the best goal-scorers in the league, McDavid’s name might not be one of the first that comes to mind. But since 2017-18, McDavid ranks fourth in the league in goals with 201. Only Alex Ovechkin (225), Auston Matthews (221) and Draisaitl have scored more goals during that span of time. Ovechkin, Matthews and Draisaitl are all contenders for the Rocket Richard Trophy this season. Despite turning 37 in September, Ovechkin remains one of the top snipers in the game.

Matthews has won back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophies, and last season became the first player to score 60 goals in a single season since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12. Draisaitl scored a career-best 55 goals in 2021-22, and as McDavid’s favourite passing target on the power-play, he could push for 60 goals this year, as well.

So, even though McDavid might not be one of the favourites to take home the Rocket Richard Trophy, he looks supremely focused on adding some new hardware to his trophy case. With McDavid being the frontrunner to win his fifth Art Ross Trophy this year, he could become the first player to lead the league in goals, assists and points since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.

The 25-year-old superstar has an immense internal drive to constantly improve, and he seems laser focused on taking the next step as a goal scorer by capturing his first Rocket Richard Trophy.