His ascent up the NHL all-time scoring charts has been quick and lethal. His four-point night gave him 1,237 points, which ranks 45th all-time. He will pass Peter Stastney (1,239 in 977 games) later this week and will move ahead of Steven Stamkos (1263), Jean Ratelle (1267), Al MacInnis (1274), Alex Delvecchio (1281), Jarome Iginla (1300), Anze Kopitar (1316), Gilbert Perreault (1326), Pierre Turgeon (1327), Mike Gartner (1335), Denis Savard (1338) and Dave Andreychuk (1338) before the end of the year and rank 34th all-time.

By the end of next season, he should be ranked among the top 20 scorers of all time, but he’ll only be at 960 games (maximum) by then. Every player in the top 20, except Mario Lemieux, played at least 1279 games. Some might get bored hearing about McDavid’s accolades, but you shouldn’t. You are witnessing an incredibly gifted player who could surpass 2,200 points. Yes, 2,200. For me, 2,000 is a lock, unless some freak injury occurs, and McDavid looks the best he ever has early on this season.He has 17 points in six games and is off to the best start of his career. He had 15 points in six games in October 2021. His best start through 10 games was 22 points in 20221-22 and again in 2022-23. Leon Draisaitl did score 23 and 21 points in those two seasons. Wayne Gretzky owns the best four starts with 24, 25, 28 and 30 points in the first 10 games in Oilers history, but McDavid is on pace to crack the top three. The crazy part is McDavid is doing this while rarely shooting the puck. He has more points, 17, than his 14 shots on goal. He’s averaging 2.33 shots/game, tied for the lowest of his career, which occurred in his rookie season.

But he has the highest shooting percentage, albeit in an extremely small sample size. He isn’t wasting any shots, and even if he does start shooting more, you wonder how it is possible to score more points, but with McDavid I wouldn’t rule out anything. He’s been outstanding offensively, but also defensively and in the neutral zone. McDavid’s line is chipping and chasing more than I’ve ever seen. McDavid currently has outscored opponents 13-2 on the ice at five-on-five. The most five-on-five goals he’s been on for in a season is 90 (2024), and the fewest against was 47 in 2017.

The most five-on-five goals for a forward on the ice in the salary cap era has been 100. Nathan MacKinnon was on for 100 in 2024 and 2026, and he was on for 69 in 2025. Things can fluctuate drastically from season to season, and it is clear McDavid won’t finish the season at his current pace (182) of on-ice goals at five-on-five, but his dominance has not just been in the offensive zone.

POINTS ARE FUN…

— Make no mistake, scoring is fun, and last night McDavid became the ninth player in NHL history to have 50-plus games with four points. He is ninth in four-game, but you can see where he is in multi-point games.

He ranks 838th in games played, but is 45th in points, 26th in two-point games, 15th in three-point games, 9th in four-point games and tied for seventh in five-point games. I hope you enjoy watching one of the truly elite players in NHL history.

— Evan Bouchard’s six goals are the most by an Oilers defenceman through the first 10 games of a season, and he’s only played six games. His 14 points have tied the franchise best start with Paul Coffey, who had 14 points in 10 games in 1984-85. Bouchard’s start has been arguably better than McDavid’s when you consider he’s a D-man. Bouchard has 14 points, but he’s outscored opponents 15-2 at five-on-five. Utterly asinine.

— Vasily Podkolzin has seven goals in six games. Gretzky owns the franchise record with 12 (1983-84), while McDavid (2022-23), Glenn Anderson (1985-86) and Gretzky (1984-85) are tied for second with 11. Leon Draisaitl (2021-22), Jari Kurri (1984-85) and Mark Messier (1981-82) had 10 goals. Podkolzin needs three goals in four games to join an elite group. Regardless of what he does in the next four games, his start has been a massive boost for the team with injuries to Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie. Podkolzin looks like he will score 30 goals for sure this year, and I wonder if he can reach 40.

— The Oilers remain the only team without a regulation loss at 5-0-1, but they are still not in first place, as Vegas has 12 points, but they’ve played two more games. Edmonton won’t face Vegas until their 27th game of the season on Nov. 24 in Edmonton.

— Devon Levi was solid last night, but the 40-17 shot differential was misleading in terms of high-danger scoring chances. The Kings had the puck more in the final two periods and had more possession, but they didn’t generate more quality scoring chances.

Los Angeles had four high-danger, two mid and 31 low-danger chances.

Edmonton had four high-danger, one mid and 10 low-danger chances.

The Kings had more possession, no doubt, at least after the first period, but the Oilers only gave up three inner-slot shots.

I like Clear Sight Analytics the best for scoring chances. These are theirs, and they had LA at 1.79 xGF and Edmonton at 1.58.

The Oilers won 4-1 and scored on three of their four great-danger chances. Levi was very solid, but even when LA had the puck, the Oilers didn’t expose him to too many dangerous chances. 

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