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Connor McDavid can become the third-fastest to reach 1,000 career NHL points in 2023-24

Originally posted on Oilersnation | By Cam Lewis | Last updated 9/24/23

Connor McDavid had one of the most impressive seasons in NHL history last year.

He led the league in scoring with 64 goals, the second most in a single season in the salary cap era, and he became just the sixth player ever to reach the 150-point plateau with 153 points.

If McDavid can have another performance like that in 2023-24, he would become the third-fastest player ever to reach 1,000 career points in the NHL. He can’t reach the milestone as quickly as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux did, but McDavid has Mike Bossy’s 656 games to 1,000 points within reach.

Here are the fastest NHLers to reach 1,000 career points and the game in which they reached the feat…

McDavid enters the 2023-24 season with 850 points through 569 games in his career. Bossy reached 1,000 points in the 656th game of his career and McDavid is 87 games played behind that number now. So if McDavid scores 150 points this season, he’d reach the 1,000-point milestone faster than Bossy did by at least five games.

It’s incredible that McDavid is in this conversation considering everyone on the list above played during a much higher-scoring era during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Looking at other players in this generation to have reached 1,000 points, nearly all have done so after 1,000 career games. Steven Stamkos hit the milestone last year in his 945th game, Claude Giroux in his 1,099th, and Joe Pavelski in his 1,248th. The fastest in the salary cap era to reach 1,000 points was Sidney Crosby, who did so in 757 games. Evgeni Malkin was next at 848 games, Alex Ovechkin did so in 880 games, and Patrick Kane did it in 953 games.

Between 850 points and 1,000, McDavid will surpass the career totals of many very good NHLers. Here are some of the names he’s set to pass this season on the all-time scoring list…