The real Connor McDavid is back. Can the Oilers take advantage?

Last season, most explanations of Connor McDavid’s greatness would have centered around the Edmonton Oilers superstar’s unmatched CV. The overflowing trophy case of individual honors, including three Hart and five Art Ross Trophies, both tied for fourth-most all time, he gathered before turning 27. The laundry list of records for which he serves as the buffer between Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and everyone else. The first 150-point season in 28 years, the first 100-assist season in 34 years, the fifth 40-point postseason ever. 

McDavid’s past achievements would have been used as a reminder that he really is the best in the world, even if his play didn’t quite bear that out during the 2024-25 regular season. After missing out on the Stanley Cup by one lousy game in 2024, McDavid was beat up (he missed 15 games), snakebitten (26 G, fewest since rookie season), and surlier than ever during a season that “only” yielded 100 points and a 10th-place finish in Hart Trophy voting. When he wasn’t firing Team Canada to victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off (McDavid even managed a smile then), you got the feeling the Edmonton captain wanted to skip the winter months altogether and fast forward to another chance at filling in the Cup-sized hole in his legacy.

When he got one, Edmonton once again steamrolled the Western Conference, McDavid once again led the field in playoff points, and the Oil once again fell to the rough-and-tumble Florida Panthers. Having spent most of the previous two years eschewing 5-4 victories in favor of 3-1 ones, of establishing a “playoff style,” the Oilers were bitterly disappointed to find they still had no answer for Florida’s bludgeoning north-south game. McDavid, the most disappointed Oiler of all, would go on to sign a short-term extension that felt more like an ultimatum than a contract: “Win, or I’m out of here.”

In the shadow of McDavid’s de facto deadline (the 2028 offseason, at the latest) and worn down by two months of extra hockey with no payoff, the Western champions’ annual early-season slump dragged on past U.S. Thanksgiving. Thanks in equal part to checked-out defensive efforts and shocking goaltending, the Oilers were still stuck at .500 as recently as Dec. 2.

With Edmonton unable to win the close ones and McDavid scoring at his worst pace since 2017-18, there was reason to wonder if anything on No. 97’s sterling resume was enough to offset the growing body of evidence that Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon had surpassed him as the NHL’s top dog. 

Six weeks later, MacKinnon is still in the driver’s seat for the Hart Trophy thanks to his career-best finishing (36 G, most in NHL), Orr-like rating (+47 in 46 GP), and contributions to by far the best record in hockey. But whether or not MacKinnon wins another MVP, no one needs to open Wikipedia to figure out what makes McDavid so great anymore: all you have to do is tune into an Oilers game. 

Before last Friday, it’d been 20 of those since McDavid failed to record a point, a run that included three hat-tricks and four four-point games. Over the course of the streak, McDavid had as many goals, 19, in 20 games as Mikko Rantanen has scored in 47. McDavid had enough points, 46, to match the season total of Brad Marchand. When all was said and done, McDavid had piled up more points in 20 games than anyone since, you guessed it, Lemieux.

Forgetting the scoresheet entirely, something about McDavid just looked different. Perhaps having put his preoccupation with summertime hockey temporarily on the back burner, McDavid seemed to remember that, even in January, he’s still capable of feats of speed and stickhandling that most world-class hockey players dare not attempt. As Edmonton play-by-play man Jack Michaels put it after McDavid’s dazzling individual effort against Nashville two weeks ago, “there is no adequate defense” for the pride of Newmarket, Ont., once he’s up to speed.