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EDMONTON, AB - MAY 14: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) wait for a puck drop in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 7 on May 14, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)
January 6, 2023 by Eric Friesen
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl recorded their 500th and 400th career NHL assists, respectively, as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a five-game home skid with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday. McDavid and Draisaitl thrive off of each other’s success, so it seems fitting they would reach the milestones in the same game.
McDavid became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to record 500 assists (527 games), trailing only Wayne Gretzky (352 games), Mario Lemieux (433 games), Peter Stastny (507 games) and Bobby Orr (522 games). The 25-year-old, who was named to his sixth NHL All-Star Game earlier that day, has 82 more assists than any other player since en entered the NHL in 2015-16.
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With two helpers in the victory, McDavid now has a league-leading 42 assists, one ahead of Nikita Kucherov. The four-time scoring champion is on pace for a career-high 86 assists this season, which would be the fourth-most by a player in a single season in the salary cap era.
Draisaitl became the seventh-fastest active NHL player to record 400 assists, behind only McDavid (426 games), Sidney Crosby (448 games), Evgeni Malkin (527 games), Artemi Panarin (529 games), Nicklas Backstrom (542 games) and Kucherov (590 games). The 27-year-old already moved past Jochen Hecht for the most career NHL assists by a German-born and trained player with 278 in 2020-21.
Though McDavid and Draisaitl have each won scoring titles and most valuable player awards, and recorded multiple 100-point seasons, Head Coach Jay Woodcroft insists that individual statistics and accolades are not what drives these two tremendous players.
“Sometime it’s hard to come up the phrases to describe it,” Woodcroft said in post-game presser on Thursday. “It’s a credit to them, their longevity, their talent. And what they don’t get credit enough for is the work that goes into achieving those numbers. But what I know about them is they’re great teammates and they want to win.”
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