Could McDavid equal or break Gretzky's Art Ross record?

[WarriorofTime]

McDavid is 26 and is running away with his 5th Art Ross Trophy. This moves him into a tie with Phil Esposito and Jaromir Jagr for fourth all time. Next up are Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux, who each won 6 Art Rosses. The record right now is comfortably held by Wayne Gretzky who has 10 Art Rosses. At the same age as McDavid, Gretzky was winning his 7th Art Ross Trophy, putting him one ahead of McDavid in pace. However, Gretzky had an injury that only saw him one win Art Ross after 1991 (age 30), that being the last one that he won at age 33 in 1993-94.

It obviously will be very tough as injury can ruin anyone and scorers tend to peak in their mid-20s, but do you think McDavid has a realistic chance of hitting, or possibly surpassing the number of Art Ross Trophies that Wayne Gretzky won (10) in his career?

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Surprisingly doable if he can stay healthy.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Hmm feel its so easy to say yes here but 6 straight after this one would take him to age 32-33.
With the game shifting younger and younger, it's definitely possible but you'd have a hard time seeing anyone (maybe Bedard) knocking him off his perch anytime soon?

Even if he misses time (say 10 games), he's still gonna put up nearly 2 pts a game for a while.
Only thing that dents this possibility is Draisaitl leaving, a major injury and/or Oilers falling apart but that seems unlikely for next 2-3 years at least.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Hmm feel its so easy to say yes here but 6 straight after this one would take him to age 32-33.
With the game shifting younger and younger, it's definitely possible but you'd have a hard time seeing anyone (maybe Bedard) knocking him off his perch anytime soon?

Even if he misses time (say 10 games), he's still gonna put up nearly 2 pts a game for a while.
Only thing that dents this possibility is Draisaitl leaving, a major injury and/or Oilers falling apart but that seems unlikely for next 2-3 years at least.

If Drais leaves and the oilers fall apart, he could leave too. He’s 29 when he hits free agency.

 

[North Cole]

No. I think he would have needed to have already won 1 of the Drai/Kucherov ross'. He would probably have to win 3 more in a row after this one to have a shot.

Either that or you're looking at him needing to age better than Ovechkin. Even if you assume he steals one like Marty, its an extremely tall task.

 

[HabsQC]

That's an amazing record and one that can be compared through eras

 

[Calderon]

Provided he stays pretty healthy, it's definitely possible. It's a longish shot but it's not like there's a plethora of red flags. A ppg of roughly 1.5 will likely continue to be enough for win so he can come down from this red hot pace and still win - besides, Draisaitl is likely to be one of his top competitors and given that Drai's production is largely dependent on McDavid's it'll be harder for him to get ahead of McD.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I think he'll need 8 before 30 years old to have a chance.

 

[ManofSteel55]

This is my new default answer on the "Can anyone match Gretzky" discussions.

If anyone can do it, Connor McDavid can. That doesn't mean he will. But if anyone can, its him.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Don’t see it happening

 

[ManofSteel55]

No. I think he would have needed to have already won 1 of the Drai/Kucherov ross'. He would probably have to win 3 more in a row after this one to have a shot.

Either that or you're looking at him needing to age better than Ovechkin. Even if you assume he steals one like Marty, its an extremely tall task.

You can't really "Steal" an Art Ross. You get the points or you don't.

 

[North Cole]

You can't really "Steal" an Art Ross. You get the points or you don't.

IMO yes, but only to a degree. The guys we have been seeing win Art Ross's recently have been driving the bus when their on the ice. Marty was a great player but he eked it out in a 48 game season the year after Stammer popped off for 60 goals in his peak. Crosby played 12 less games and was only 4 points behind.

IMO that's a steal. In a normal season I doubt he captures the Ross, Stammer was only 3 behind him and OV was also right in there. You add in another 34 games, that's a lot of extra variance. My point is that at 37 years old, you probably aren't going to be the guy driving the offense, so you'll need something like what Benn got when he had 4 points in the last game - your team feeding you everything at the end of the race.

Or like I said, the flip side is that you are still 37 years old and you have aged better than OV and are still driving the offense. Which is a tall task. The Art Ross is realistically not an old man's trophy.

 

[ManofSteel55]

IMO yes, but only to a degree. The guys we have been seeing win Art Ross's recently have been driving the bus when their on the ice. Marty was a great player but he eked it out in a 48 game season the year after Stammer popped off for 60 goals in his peak. Crosby played 12 less games and was only 4 points behind.

IMO that's a steal. In a normal season I doubt he captures the Ross, Stammer was only 3 behind him and OV was also right in there. You add in another 34 games, that's a lot of extra variance. My point is that at 37 years old, you probably aren't going to be the guy driving the offense, so you'll need something like what Benn got when he had 4 points in the last game - your team feeding you everything at the end of the race.

Or like I said, the flip side is that you are still 37 years old and you have aged better than OV and are still driving the offense. Which is a tall task. The Art Ross is realistically not an old man's trophy.

Not gonna lie, I brain farted and thought you were referring to Marty Brodeur and his last Vezina as the "gift", ha ha. My apologies, I will see myself out.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I would say possible but not likely. Too many variables and too many missed opportunities in his early 20s.

 

[North Cole]

Not gonna lie, I brain farted and thought you were referring to Marty Brodeur and his last Vezina as the "gift", ha ha. My apologies, I will see myself out.

It's all good, I don't really disagree with you - 'Steal' is probably too strong of a word when it comes to trophies you aren't just living off of media hype for because you're right you still need to be on the ice and contribute to get the points. I just mean that he would need to win one or two in a part of his career where you are really not expected to be anywhere near it. While that's possible it certainly wouldn't be something I would bet on.

Crosby is not that old and he's only able to hang in the Art Ross race for 20-40 games before he starts to disappear down the list, the same will happen to McDavid eventually, so I think he would really need to turn up the gas in the next 3-4 years and basically win out to have a shot at Gretzky.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I really hope so but its unlikely, first person to ever even be in this conversation since Sid tho no? And we saw what happened to Sid unfortunately.

I think he can do it but maybe injuries and what not prevent him from it knock on wood

 

[TropicOfNoReturn]

Highly unlikely.

 

[SOLR]

Depends on how Bedard/Hughes progress from now.

 

[Rafafouille]

Depends on injuries. If he's healthy nobody currently in the NHL can touch him. Kucherov will be 30, MacKinnon can't stay healthy, if Draisaitl is scoring mcdavid benefits. The only wild card is the other Connor.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

McDavid is clearly the best player in the league but he's not destroying the competition every single year such that we can expect him to double his Art Ross total going forward as he approaches and then passes 30. Someone will have a breakout year here and there and nab a scoring title from him.

Of course, we're still waiting for him to even place 3rd. So.

 

[JackSlater]

He could I guess but it's very unlikely. McDavid generally isn't untouchable in scoring every year even though he's been the best player in the league for more than half a decade. It's normal to expect injuries at some point plus random variance in given years where someone else will outscore him, which never happened with Gretzky until a freak challenger emerged in Lemieux.

 

[Tebowz]

Nope. once Bedard enters the NHL McDavid wont win another Art Ross

 

[Canovin]

I think if McDavid wins a cup, he might turn his attention to the art Ross all time record like how OV is chasing the all time goals record

 

[Bandit]

The 4th McDavid thread on the first page. Tell me more.

 

[Canovin]

Nope. once Bedard enters the NHL McDavid wont win another Art Ross

Bedard has to get passed Jack Hughes first