While your definition of "most valuable player" is open to interpretation, the player with the most points in the NHL is not. And as of Saturday night that honor belongs to the Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid.
Though the Oilers won't be heading back to the postseason after ending a decade-long playoff drought last year, McDavid could still be adding some hardware to his trophy case. He's making an intriguing case for the Hart in how dominant and integral he's been to the success Edmonton has had, but a trophy he wouldn't have to leave up to the voters is the Art Ross.
Entering the month of February, McDavid was 13th in the NHL in scoring, but fast-forward 26 games, and McDavid has racked up 42 points, punctuated by two goals Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings to bring his season total up to 96, now first among all players in the NHL. The Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2, with McDavid's second proving to be the game-winner, McDavid's seventh game-deciding goal this season (another career-high).
#OILERS GOOAAL! WE HAVE A NEW LEADER! #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/e0i37cJt10
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 25, 2018
While he entered play Saturday a point behind Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the incumbent leader, who has spent virtually all season atop the leaderboard, was held scoreless earlier in the night in a loss against the New Jersey Devils.
Then it was McDavid and the Oilers turn to play, and it took the third-year superstar all of 24:08 of game time to pot two goals, tying and passing Kucherov in the process.
McDavid's first came late in the opening period, when he stuffed a loose puck in on the backhand at the left post.
He doubled up with his second when, in classic McDavid fashion, he turned on the jets to separate himself from the defense before slipping a wrist shot through the legs of Jonathan Quick.
McDavid has already established a new career-high in goals, blowing past the 30 he scored in his sophomore season. He's now on the verge of his first career 40-goal season, and possibly the seventh 40-goal, 60-assist campaign of this century, also done by Jaromir Jagr (twice), Joe Sakic, Daniel Alfredsson, Daniel Sedin, and Patrick Kane.
With four more points, McDavid would also become the first player since Alex Ovechkin (2007-08 to 2009-10) to post consecutive 100-point seasons. (It would also be the sixth 100-point season since 2010, with McDavid the only player in the league with more than one.) The Oilers will have seven games remaining in their regular season schedule after Saturday (Tampa Bay also has seven remaining) and McDavid now has 17 points in his past 10 games.