Connor McDavid has an assist in all 18 games the Edmonton Oilers have played this season.
Every one of them.
He added three more in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, which tied Adam Oates for the second-longest assist streak in NHL history. Oates did it with the Boston Bruins in 1992-93.
The only player who went longer is the one McDavid keeps running into in the record book. Wayne Gretzky had an assist in 23 conscutive games for the Los Angeles Kings in 1990-91.
McDavid needs five more games to tie him and six to pass him. If the streak holds, he would tie Gretzky on Nov. 17 against the Panthers in Sunrise, Florida. He would break the record two nights later against the Lightning in Tampa.
The pace is nearly identical to Gretzky's.
McDavid is averaging 2.06 assists a game. Gretzky averaged 2.09 during his run.
McDavid leads the NHL with 47 points, and 37 of them are assists
Can Connor McDavid break Wayne Gretzky's assist record?
Here's what's left on the Oilers' schedule before McDavid can catch Gretzky (all times ET):
- Game 19: Monday, Nov. 9 vs. New York Rangers, 8 p.m.
- Game 20: Wednesday, Nov. 11 vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 9 p.m.
- Game 21: Saturday, Nov. 14 at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.
- Game 22: Sunday, Nov. 15 at Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m.
- Game 23: Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Florida Panthers, 7 p.m. (would tie the record)
- Game 24: Thursday, Nov. 19 at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. (would break the record)
The toughest test may come in the middle. The Oilers play in Toronto and Philadelphia on back-to-back nights Nov. 14 and 15, the start of a road trip that continues through Florida.
What is the NHL record for longest assist streak?
Gretzky set the record back in 1990-91 with the Kings, and he broke his own record to do it. He had an assist in 23 straight games and 48 assists over that stretch.
It's one of the few Gretzky records that has nothing to do with his time in Edmonton.
He finished that season with 122 assists. It was the NHL's last 100-assist season until McDavid had 100 in 2023-24.
Oates' 18-game streak came during a 97-assist season for the Boston Bruins in 1992-93.
McDavid has already taken one streak record from Gretzky this season. When he reached 13 straight games on Oct. 28, he set the mark for the longest assist streak to open a season. Gretzky had shared the old record of 12 with Ken Linseman and Sebastian Aho.
At his current rate, McDavid would also threaten a bigger Gretzky record, assists per game in a season. Gretzky averaged 2.04 in 1985-86, when he set the single-season record with 163 assists. McDavid is at 2.06, but with 66 games left to play.
How does Connor McDavid compare to Wayne Gretzky?
McDavid has spent his career being measured against The Great One and already this season he has taken another of Gretzky's records.
McDavid reached 30 assists in 15 games, the fastest in NHL history. Gretzky needed 16 games in 1984-85.
The biggest came in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. McDavid had three assists in Game 4 against Florida to reach 32 for the postseason, breaking Gretzky's single-playoff record of 31 from 1988.
Two months earlier, he had become the fourth player in NHL history with 100 assists in a season. The others are Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux. Orr and Lemieux each did it once.
Gretzky did it 11 times.
That's the gap that still separates them. Gretzky finished his career with 1,963 assists, more than any other player has total points. He's also the only player to reach 700 assists faster than McDavid and Lemieux. Gretzky got there in 478 games, Lemieux in 579 and McDavid in 699.
This season could close some of that gap. McDavid is on pace for 219 points over the 84-game schedule. Gretzky's single-season record is 215, set over 80 games in 1985-86.
Gretzky put up most of his numbers with the Oilers before Edmonton traded him to Los Angeles in 1988.
The assist streak is the rare Gretzky record he set after he left.
What is Connor McDavid's point streak?
McDavid has points in all 18 games, too. That's the longest season-opening point streak by an active player. He passed the 17-game runs by himself in 2021-22 and Toronto's William Nylander in 2023-24.
Two more games would match the longest single-season point streak of his career. He went 20 games last season.
Gretzky owns that record, too. He had a point in each of the first 51 games of the 1983-84 season with 61 goals and 92 assists.
McDavid is at 18.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Connor McDavid break this Wayne Gretzky record? Mark these dates.
