Looks like McDavid will be back tonight - missing only 3 games.
Anyone want to change their votes? lol
He does have a 15 point gap behind MacKinnon already, and 12 behind Kucherov, with same # of games left as both players.
This early in the season - and assuming good health rest of the way - I'm thinking he's still the favorite.
Generational healing.
With Kucherov’s and MacKinnon’s performances last season and their strong starts now, they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt for the rest of the year. If MacKinnon “slips” back to his pace from the final 72 games last season—1.819 PPG—and Kucherov ticks back up to his 1.847, we’re looking at MacKinnon reaching 150 points and Kucherov 149, assuming they play all 82 games.
Now, if McDavid’s fully healed and averages 2 PPG over the remaining 69 games, that would put him at 148 points in 79 games—best PPG, but just shy in the overall race. For those doubting he can catch up, remember, after the slow, injured start, he scored 112 points in 57 games last season and made up a 20-point deficit in just 28 days while both stayed steady at 1.60 PPG. So it can be done without them going cold. No question that he was nagged all year by upper and lower body injuries, and he could go nuts.
A top-three finish seems likely. Might even finish with the top PPG even if he falls short as outlined before. If they stay hot, it’ll be a battle all season long again. Still, it’s shaping up to be another memorable scoring race. What a treat it will be to look back on these with full context in 10 or so years.
With Kucherov and MacKinnon off, McDavid needs to start closing that 12-15 point gap in a significant way—ideally, he’ll kick things off with a 4-5 point game. With the current context of missing just 3 games, compared to the original expectation of 10-12 missed games, I’ve changed my vote from finishing top three to collecting his 6th Art Ross.