Oilers’ Connor McDavid plays in 800th NHL game

Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid hit the ice for his 800th career NHL game Tuesday night, becoming the seventh player in franchise history to reach the mark.

He trails only Glenn Anderson, Mark Messier, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Smyth, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Kevin Lowe in franchise games played. By season’s end, if McDavid plays all 84 games, he’ll reach 868 games, passing both Anderson (845) and Messier (851) in games played.

Entering tonight’s game with 1,233 points, McDavid has the third-most through 800 games in league history, trailing just Wayne Gretzky (1,892 on Dec. 2, 1989) and Mario Lemieux (1,580 on Jan. 12, 2002).

The Oilers captain, now in his 12th NHL season, sits near the top of many franchise-leading marks. His 321 power play assists already sit first, while he sits fifth in goals, second in assists, second in points, fifth in multi-goal games, second in multi-assist games, second in multi-point games and is tied in game-winning goals with Leon Draisaitl, with 76. His 100 power play goals rank sixth, while his 421 power play points rank second.

There’s a chance McDavid can overtake Gretzky in the franchise lead in power play points, as he trails him by 18 points, needing 19 to pass. With 412 goals, he’s six away from surpassing Anderson (417) for the fourth-most in franchise history.

McDavid has a chance to hit more major milestones this season, too. He sits 67 points shy of 1,300 on his career, and upon reaching the milestone, will become the 40th or 41st player to hit the milestone (Steven Stamkos sits at 1,263 points) — and would become the third-fastest to it, trailing Gretzky (539 games) and Lemieux (633 games).

He’s 79 assists away from 900 on his career, which would make him the 23rd player to do so, and the third fastest behind — you guessed it — Gretzky (584 games) and Lemieux (771 games).

McDavid has been off to a torrid start to the season, already scoring three goals, 10 assists and 13 points in five games to start the year. Tonight, with a two-point performance, he could become the sixth player in league history to hit 15 points in six or fewer games to start the year, joining Gretzky (seven times), Lemieux (five), Cy Denneny (three), Kevin Stevens (two) and Newsy Lalonde (two).