Evan Bouchard (2) of the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid (97) celebrate Bouchard’s score against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, during first period NHL playoff action at Rogers Place in Edmonton. IMAGE CREDIT: David Bloom/Postmedia Article text
The Edmonton Oilers’ incredible 2024 playoff run may have been most impressive for their increasing attack on the NHL record book.
In recent days the Oilers have recorded a pair of wins over Florida Panthers to pull back into the final series they trailed by the grim margin of 3 games to 0 just a week ago. In each game, a current Oiler set a new standard for postseason playmaking. The men whose records they surpassed? None other than a couple of hallowed names from the club’s own storied past.
The dynasty squad of the 1980s provided the franchise and its fans with a proud history, however their epic feats cast a very long shadow over future iterations of the Oilers. The club won the ultimate prize 5 times in a 7-year span; in the process, several of its individual members established a number of scoring records that have stood the test of time.
Until recently, that is. Thrice in recent times, twice in the last week alone, we have seen one of those records finally get toppled… by other Oilers. It’s a best case scenario for fans of the club.
Connor McDavid
McDavid has been putting on a playmaking clinic for the whole season. He joined Wayne Gretzky (eleven times!) and trailblazer Bobby Orr as the only players in NHL history to accomplish the 100-assist milestone during the regular season. On the final day of the season, McDavid would score a century against Nikita Kucherov of Tampa Bay.
McDavid has continued to set up goals at a phenomenal clip throughout the playoffs. He scored once and contributed three assists in Edmonton’s 8-1 thumping of Florida in Game 4, making it his 30th, 31st, and 32nd postseason goal total. He also knocked the Great Gretzky off the top of another list in the process.
This is the revised list, which now includes two more assists from McDavid’s 2-2-4 showing in Game 5:
The list is dominated by Oilers of 2 eras, 5 in all including 3 different players of the current team. Among them, they hold 8 of the top 10 playoff seasons all-time! Call it 8 of 12 if you prefer, it’s still absolutely staggering that one franchise could be so dominant. Only 3 other NHLers ever collected 25 apples, once each, while Gretzky did so yet a fifth time as an LA King.
Not every day nor even every decade that a Wayne Gretzky record gets taken down, especially in his top specialty of playmaking. In this case, the Great One held the top three spots on the list, all during his time with the Oilers and each in a Stanley Cup season. His 31st assist in 1988 topped his own 3-year-old mark and set yet another NHL record with his very last point as an Oiler. But now that legendary swan song has been eclipsed, by Edmonton’s modern scoring sensation.
It’s challenging to draw comparisons between the two phenomenon because their skill sets are so dissimilar. With this recent tweet, Cam Cole, a former great reporter for the Edmonton Journal, attempted to capture the essence of the subject matter.
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