It’s been a crazy ride in the 2023-24 NHL regular season for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. Both have emerged from early-season setbacks and are looking stronger and stronger as the playoffs get closer. Based on how well McDavid has played since returning from his early season injuries, he’s making a legitimate case to be named the NHL’s Most Valuable Player.
The current Hart Trophy favourites Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Nikita Kucherov are all having great years. But none are as valuable to their team as McDavid, and last time I checked that was the main criteria for choosing the winner of the Hart Trophy.
Oilers Would Not Have Crawled Out of the NHL Basement Without a Healthy McDavid
The Oilers started the season 2-9-1 and the sky was falling in. McDavid was battling injury and definitely wasn’t himself. He even sat out two games early in the season on Oct. 24 against the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers on Oct. 26 – both losses. He returned for the Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 29 but you could tell he wasn’t the McDavid that everyone has come to expect. In fact, it took close to a month before he was looking like himself again as he and his pal Leon Draisaitl lit up the Washington Capitals 5-0 on Nov. 24. You want to talk about a turning point in the season, you could point to that game…and it looked like McDavid was finally moving on from his early season injuries.
McDavid Helped the Oilers Skyrocket Up the Standings
After the Oilers’ first 20 games, they had a record of 7-12-1 sitting in 29th place in the NHL’s overall standings. They were 13th in the Western Conference, seventh in the Pacific, and trailed the Vegas Golden Knights by a whopping 15 points before the two teams faced off on Nov. 28. At that time they were sitting 14 points back of the Vancouver Canucks, and most people were hoping they could simply crawl back into the wild card playoff race.
Related: Oilers’ Rough Start Has Altered Their Season Expectations
In the first 10 games of the 2023-24 season, McDavid was in 57th place with 10 points, and after 20 games he started climbing up the leaderboard and was in 15th place in scoring in the NHL. That was then. Now…the Oilers are in ninth place overall in the league standings with 88 points. They’ve climbed into second place in the Pacific Division and are closing in on the Canucks who sit on top of the division with 96 points. But the Oilers have three games in hand, and don’t play as many contending teams as the Canucks do to close out the 2023-24 regular season. It could be a tight race to the finish.
McDavid Closing in on 100 Assists
You have to believe a 100-assist season is a milestone that McDavid wants to achieve. He would join Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players to have achieved 100 assists in a season. Those are three of the all-time greats, and McDavid has a real shot at becoming the fourth player to achieve that number in league history. For those who may not have witnessed Orr, Gretzky or Lemieux at the height of their powers, you might want to pay close attention to McDavid because this is a true rarity and something to be celebrated instead of mocked.
If Everything Continues to Line Up – McDavid Deserves the Hart Trophy
McDavid currently has 112 points and trails NHL points leader Kucherov (122 points) by 10 points with 15 games to go. Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning only have 13 games left in the season. Based on the amount of games remaining, don’t count out McDavid to catch Kucherov and McKinnon who currently sits in second place with 119 points.
McDavid also has 86 assists and needs under one assist a game to hit 100 assists by the end of the NHL regular season. Again don’t count him out.
If the Oilers catch the Canucks in their final 15 games of the season for first place in the Pacific Division, what a story that’ll be. From the outhouse to the penthouse within the span of 72 games. Much of this dramatic turn in the Oilers’ fortunes can be attributed to the coaching change with Kris Knoblauch taking over for Jay Woodcroft, but it’s also about McDavid regaining his health, and how he, in turn, helped drag his team out of the NHL basement and back into the conversation of Stanley Cup contenders. That alone should be the reason why McDavid deserves the Hart Trophy.
Sure MacKinnon, Matthews and Kucherov all deserve consideration…but that’s an argument for others to take outside. If McDavid wins the Art Ross for most points, the Oilers overtake the Canucks, and he hits 100 assists…you have to hand him his fourth Hart Trophy. And if all goes well, maybe he’ll win his first Conn Smythe Trophy too.
