<p>Connor McDavid has given us a rare opportunity.</p>



<p>You know those signs that say, “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: BREAK GLASS”?&nbsp;Well, today, we’re really doing it. We’re placing his performance among every season by a forward in NHL history.&nbsp;No. 97’s Earth-scorching, rocket-launching, physics-defying 2022-23 creates a conversation saved only for special occasions.</p>



<p>Most would agree that as a physical specimen of a hockey player, McDavid is surely the greatest talent the world has ever seen. But to do this right, we need to evaluate the Oilers’ captain <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/adjusted-scoring-how-it-works-and-why-it-matters" target="_blank">in his own time and place</a>.</p>



<p>No one has researched or typed more words in the last three years about <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/a-whole-new-way-to-determine-hall-of-fame-worthiness">historical context in hockey</a> than yours truly. While it’s useful to have a peek at the top 20 era adjusted point seasons, simply providing this list and calling it a day isn’t enough for an all-time debate.<br></p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="143"></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="756" height="665" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108218" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1.jpg 756w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1-300x264.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1-150x132.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1-600x528.jpg 600w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Single-Season-1-696x612.jpg 696w" sizes="(max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px"></a></figure></div>



<p>It’s a fun and fascinating list.</p>



<p>Adjusted scoring is critical to these conversations. But when talking all-time best, we need to refine things further. Let’s start with some boundaries:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The evolution of the rules, the available talent, and the size of an NHL roster have our search begin post-1967 expansion. With all due respect to Howie Morenz and Cooney Weiland, their best work came right at the time when sliced bread was invented. Literally. </li><li>We’re going to toss any seasons where a player didn’t suit up for 70 games. No abbreviated years. No gimmicky projections.&nbsp;We need the forward in the lineup sustaining their play over a complete season.&nbsp;This rules out McDavid’s “Canadian Division” season, any Sidney Crosby partial year, and perhaps hockey’s greatest triumph – Mario Lemieux’s 1992-93 comeback from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.</li><li>Playmaking is swell, but to be in this exclusive debate, we need our candidates to have a minimum 60 adjusted goals. Goal scoring matters.</li><li>Lastly, context beyond the numbers counts. The player’s situation is important – their personal circumstance, teammates, and off-ice pressures will be considered.</li></ul>



<p></p>



<p>With the above factors in mind, we’re going to start at the top and count down, slotting in McDavid’s explosive 2022-23 along the way.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#1. Wayne Gretzky (1983-84)</strong></h1>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="668" height="153" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108061" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84.jpg 668w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84-300x69.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84-150x34.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Gretzky-83-84-600x137.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px"></a></figure></div>



<p>McDavid’s season will not be labeled greatest ever.&nbsp;That distinction belongs to The Great One. Maybe you’ve heard of him?&nbsp;Skinny guy from Brantford. Has a vineyard. Broke some records a while back.&nbsp;When you have four 200-point seasons and no one else has any, you’re going to have a case for top spot.&nbsp;But why this one among 99’s greatest hits album chalk full of 1980s jams?</p>



<p>Era adjustments batter Gretzky’s point total “down” to 163, fourth most all-time.&nbsp;Context matters here.&nbsp;This was the year the living legend won the Art Ross by 63%(!) over second, a personal best.&nbsp;He won the goal scoring crown by 31, the assist title by 32, and scored 79 points more than runner-up, teammate Paul Coffey.&nbsp;Yikes.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="171"></div>



<p>Off the ice, Gretzky in 1983-84 is highly relatable to McDavid today.&nbsp;He was coming off the team’s deepest playoff run, a humbling Finals sweep vs. the Islanders. His team’s style of play was criticized.&nbsp;He had a mantle full of hardware, but no Stanley Cup ring.&nbsp;So, he came back with a vengeance, hitting his highest points-per-game mark, ultimately leading the Oilers to their first of four Cups in five years. Edmonton fans are hoping history repeats itself.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#2. Mario Lemieux (1995-96)</strong></h1>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="676" height="162" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108062" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96.jpg 676w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96-300x72.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96-150x36.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-Lemieux-95-96-600x144.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px"></a></figure></div>



<p>The circumstances around Lemieux’s 1995-96 are unprecedented.&nbsp;After missing 177 games in five seasons battling chronic back issues, blood cancer, and 22 radiation treatments, Super Mario was physically ravaged.&nbsp;He sat out the 1994-95 lockout-shortened year to recharge.&nbsp;Lemieux would return at age 30, six years removed from a complete season.</p>



<p>NHL scoring had fallen sharply.&nbsp;1995-96’s offensive environment matches that of our modern-day hero McDavid’s 2022-23. Lemieux would stay in the lineup for 70 games and would record the greatest adjusted pace of modern times (78/104/183 per 82 games).&nbsp;In an unparalleled career of starts, stops, comebacks, and inextinguishable brilliance, this is Mario’s top entry.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="177"></div>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#3. Mario Lemieux (1988-89)</strong></h1>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="672" height="162" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108063" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89.jpg 672w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89-300x72.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89-150x36.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3-Lemieux-88-89-600x145.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px"></a></figure></div>



<p>Lemieux’s second cameo comes seven years earlier, his last season at full health.&nbsp;He was only 23.&nbsp;By the raw numbers, Mario fell one point short of joining Gretzky’s 200-point club. The most incredible part of this performance is somehow not the on-ice work.</p>



<p>Rather, it’s that Lemieux was robbed of both the Hart (runner-up to Gretzky’s L.A. debut) and the Pearson (his peers voted Steve Yzerman the winner).</p>



<p>How’s this for an MVP case?</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>He won the scoring title by 31 points.</li><li>He set the NHL shorthanded goals record (13) and scored the second-most power play goals in history (31) at the time.</li><li>He went +41 on a team outscored that year.</li><li>The Penguins had come fifth or sixth in the division the last six years. They jumped to second.</li></ul>



<p></p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#4. Wayne Gretzky (1981-82)</strong></h1>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="163" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108064" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82.jpg 683w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82-300x72.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82-150x36.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4-Gretzky-81-82-600x143.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px"></a></figure></div>



<p>If McDavid is showing us what hockey evolution looks like, this was Gretzky in 1981-82.&nbsp;At age 21, he shattered Phil Esposito’s goals record… by a head-scratching 16 goals.</p>



<p>What holds Gretzky’s year back is the chaos of the NHL’s shifting landscape at the time.&nbsp;After the 1979 WHA merger, the league had gone from six to 21 teams in just a dozen seasons.&nbsp;The product was certainly diluted and would take a few more years to stabilize and benefit from the ongoing influx of European talent.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="158"></div>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">#5. Connor McDavid (2022-23)</h1>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="663" height="163" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-108227" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3.jpg 663w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3-300x74.jpg 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3-150x37.jpg 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/5-McDavid-22-23-3-600x148.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px"></a></figure></div>



<p>We’ve arrived at McDavid’s current masterpiece – the fifth-best season of them all.</p>



<p>The NHL scoring climate has quietly jumped the last few years.&nbsp;In fact, it’s up around 18% since McDavid’s debut in 2015-16.&nbsp;Goals are flying again.&nbsp;As a result, his exceptional season is No. 10 all-time on the post-expansion adjusted points list, not in the top handful that we might expect given his dominance.</p>



<p>So, what makes his season so special?&nbsp;McDavid continues to change hockey.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>A physical marvel, his feet, hands, and brain operate in tandem at unparalleled speed.&nbsp;With highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis, he is at least partially responsible for the NHL’s growing and welcome obsession with skill, speed, and ultimately, offence.</li><li>A video game cheat code, McDavid has reimagined what’s possible for in-game impact. After a quarter century of teams focused on goal prevention, it’s comebacks and trading scoring chances that are sexy again.</li><li>McDavid has turned the power play into an art form.&nbsp;Since tracking began, this year’s Edmonton power play is No. 1 in history (32.6% at the time of this writing).&nbsp;NHL save percentages once averaged in the .870s. This Oilers unit is still better than any team from that era. A miraculous feat.</li><li>The NHL has never been better. The influx of European and American talent, combined with advanced training and coaching, makes the current landscape inherently harder to dominate. A contentious point among traditionalists, Gretzky and Lemieux played primarily in a Canadian-controlled sport, only seeing the full effect of the international footprint in their twilight years.</li><li>Goal scoring matters among the best handful of all-time performances.&nbsp;Adjusted or unadjusted, this is the first time McDavid scored at above a 44-goal pace in a full season.&nbsp;Adding all-world goal scoring credentials launches his year into the previously untouchable Gretzky/Lemieux stratosphere.</li></ul>



<p></p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Closing Thoughts</h1>



<p>We often talk about generational players.&nbsp;McDavid has had a generational <em>season</em>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Goals. Assists. Consistency. Full health. It’s been over two decades since a forward — Jaromir Jagr — delivered a complete performance that holds up historically. </p>



<p>With PHWA Award voting ballots due later this month, the Oilers’ captain is a lock to win his third Hart Trophy as league MVP.&nbsp;The only question is whether it will be unanimous. McDavid is also a near certainty to become the first player since Alex Ovechkin (2007-08) to nab the quartet of major awards – Hart, Lindsay, Ross, and Richard Trophies.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="174"></div>



<p>There you have it. McDavid’s electric 2022-23 is the fifth-best forward season in NHL history. At 26 years old, Connor’s far from done. Can he possibly find <em>another</em> gear? To be on the safe side, let’s not replace that broken emergency glass just yet.&nbsp;Based on what we’ve witnessed, we may need to do this again next year.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator">



<p></p>



<p style="font-size:14px"><em>Paul Pidutti is the creator of the Adjusted Hockey project, which brings context to hockey statistics. His <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/a-whole-new-way-to-determine-hall-of-fame-worthiness" target="_blank">Hockey Hall of Fame methodology</a>, the Pidutti Point Share (PPS) system, is the first comprehensive measure of HHOF worthiness. You can find his work on Twitter (<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/AdjustedHockey" target="_blank">@AdjustedHockey</a>) and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.adjustedhockey.com" target="_blank">adjustedhockey.com</a>.</em></p>



<p style="font-size:14px">Adjusted GP &amp; Pace stats from Adjusted Hockey; all other data from <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/" target="_blank">Hockey Reference</a></p>



<p>_____</p>



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<p></p>



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