Oilers' Connor McDavid rushing to 1,000 points at historic pace

The star power across the NHL is as bright as it's been in years. The game is faster than ever and scoring continues to be higher than it's been in three decades, producing can’t-miss-moments every night.

This upcoming season, a number of the game’s best players are poised to set new milestones or break records.

Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and many others will continue to push the envelope of what is possible on the ice.

Here are some of the milestones to watch for this season.

McDavid is remarkably about to begin his 10th NHL season and every year he keeps getting better.

Entering this campaign, the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner is just 18 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Even more impressively, with just 645 games played so far, McDavid will be among the fastest to ever reach the 1,000-point mark.

FEWEST GAMES PLAYED NEEDED FOR 1,000 POINTS

McDavid, who turns 28 on Jan. 13, will also be among the youngest players to do it.

YOUNGEST PLAYERS TO SCORE 1,000 POINTS

Only twice in his career has McDavid failed to reach 100 points in a season: His rookie year when he had 48 in 45 games due to injury and in 2019-20, when he had 97 in 64 games before play was halted due to the pandemic.

McDavid trails only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Newsy Lalonde with 1.52 points per game in his career. After coming within one win of the Stanley Cup last spring, the Oilers captain will be extra motivated to continue raising the bar this season.

Sidney Crosby is entering Year 20 of his incredible career but isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. 

The 37-year-old is four points away from 1,600 and 46 away from passing Joe Sakic for ninth on the all-time list, putting him right behind his mentor Lemieux. Lemieux is currently 127 points ahead of Crosby so one Penguins captain may pass another next season.

The two-time Art Ross Trophy winner moved into 10th place on the scoring list last season when he posted 42 goals and 94 points. It was Crosby’s sixth 100-point campaign and 13th time posting more than a point per game in a season.

Crosby is also eight goals away from 600 and 10 away from passing Jari Kurri for 20th all-time. Last season was just the two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner’s third 40-goal season but it was his 12th of at least 30 goals. Crosby only has one 50-goal season on his resume but has been as consistent as they come his whole career.

Alex Ovechkin is inching closer to the all-time goals record but as he enters his age 39 season, it’s hard to say whether or not he will hit the mark this year.

Ovechkin currently sits at 853 goals and needs 42 to pass Wayne Gretzky’s 894. Last season, Ovechkin started slow but still managed to finish the season with 31 goals to help the Capitals return to the playoffs.

Now in Year 20, Ovechkin’s familiar playmakers Nick Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov have moved on. But the Capitals were aggressive in the off-season, adding Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy and goaltender Logan Thompson in a clear signal that they intend to keep pushing things forward. While those players aren’t high-point producers, Ovechkin’s chances to break the record will increase if the Capitals can stack wins this season.

Matthews fell one short of becoming the first 70-goal scorer in the salary cap era, but that impressive showing last year has given him a shot at joining some exclusive ranks. 

The new Maple Leafs captain is 32 goals away from 400. Matthews has skated in 562 games to date and turns 27 on Sept. 17, meaning he could be among the quickest and youngest to score 400 times.

FEWEST GAMES PLAYED NEEDED FOR 400 GOALS

YOUNGEST PLAYERS TO SCORE 400 GOALS

Notably, Alex Ovechkin — who Matthews shares a birthday with — is not on either list. Ovechkin was over the age of 28 and playing in game No. 634 when he scored his 400th goal. A pair of lockouts contributed to that delay.

Matthews has a long way to go to challenge Ovechkin on the goal-scoring list but it’s not impossible to see him among the greatest scorers ever by the time his career ends.

While Crosby is among the all-time greats, his long-time running mate is nearing three milestones in his own Hall of Fame career.

Evgeni Malkin is two goals away from 500, two assists away from 800 and four points away from 1,300. He enters the season ranking fourth in goals, fourth in assists and third in points in the salary cap era.

Malkin, now 38, is coming off back-to-back 27 goal seasons and hasn’t missed a game in more than two years. Last season he scored 67 points, his 13th time reaching at least 60 points in his 18 NHL seasons.

Fleury has already declared this season will be his last but he has the chance to add one more milestone to his Hall of Fame career. 

The soon-to-be 40-year-old is 20 games away from second-most all-time among goaltenders. He enters the season with 1,025 games played and can pass an idol (Patrick Roy, 1,029) and a rival (Roberto Luongo, 1,044) this season.

Last year Fleury became just the fourth goalie to appear in 1,000 games and moved into second on the all-time wins list with 561. Martin Brodeur’s records in both categories (1,266 games played, 691 wins) are basically untouchable in the modern NHL. In fact, Fleury is so far ahead of all other active goalies that it’s possible he’s the last one to both win 500 games and appear in 1,000.

ACTIVE GOALIE WINS LEADERS

Two perennial Norris contenders will join an exclusive club if they reach 200 goals this season.

Erik Karlsson enters the year with 189 goals while Roman Josi has 181. Only 23 defencemen in NHL history have achieved the mark.

Karlsson, a three-time Norris winner, had 11 goals last season after a trade to the Penguins. It was the ninth time in his 15-year career that he scored in double-digits.

Josi, like Karlsson entering his age 34 season, tied his career-high with 23 goals last year. His scoring totals should remain high after his Predators were aggressive in free agency, adding goal-scorers Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. If opposing defences commit too much to those two new threats, Josi could get a lot of chances to find the back of the net.