Oilers’ Connor McDavid fastest to 20 assists in a season in NHL history

Connor McDavid’s three assists in the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night set an NHL record for the fewest games required to reach 20 assists in a single season.

McDavid, now with six goals and 20 assists for a league-leading 26 points, reached the milestone after he passed the puck to Evan Bouchard nearly four minutes into OT, who roofed it past Jesper Wallstedt on the power play to give the Oilers the win in front of more than 17,000 fans at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

The Oilers are now 7-1-1 through nine games under new head coach Mike Babcock. Bouchard is first among all NHL defenders is scoring with seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points, while forward Leon Draisaitl’s 16 points puts him in the top 10 among all skaters, with eight goals and eight assists.

McDavid, 29, has reached a number of impressive landmarks in the last calendar year. Last March, he became the third-fastest player in NHL history to record 800 assists, as well as the third-fastest player to register 1,200 career points. The two players to accomplish both milestones faster were Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Now in his 12th NHL season, McDavid, taken No. 1 overall by the Oilers in 2015, has 415 goals and 831 assists for 1,246 points in 803 regular-season games. He’s recorded nine 100-point seasons during his career and has finished with at least 70 assists eight times.

His best statistical season came in 2022-23, where he finished with 64 goals and 89 assists for 153 points, becoming the first player since Lemieux in 1995-96 to break the 150-point mark in a single season. Only three players in history have scored more points in a season than McDavid: Lemieux, Gretzky and Steve Yzerman.