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Connor-icles: McDavid ahead of Crosby's 2004-05 pace after 10 games
First things first: Wednesday's best illustration of Connor McDavid's giftedness might have come on a non-scoring play.
McDavid and the Erie Otters drew the largest crowd of the OHL season for their one-night homestand at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, as 11,391 turned out to see Erie conduct a clinic during an 8-4 win over the Niagara IceDogs. McDavid had four points, but check out the speed and verve that he exhibited in the first period, when he pulled a one-handed how's-it-going move on Niagara's Vince Dunn while in full flight before being denied with a right pad save by goalie Brent Moran.
That was ludicrous speed. No wonder some Buffalo Sabres fans already have already acquired McDavid No. 97 jerseys, just in case.
The rest of McDavid's docket consisted of two secondary assists on goals by rookie linemate Alex DeBrincat; a Gretzky-like pass out from behind the net to Kurtis MacDermid, who was double-teamed since no IceDogs defender dared to tread below the goalline; and a tap-in goal that put the game out of reach.
McDavid maintained he was "a little bit fortunate" to pull off the one-handed move. Just a hunch: luck has little to do with it. As Otters assistant coach Jay McKee put it: "It's pretty unique because you don't find players of his capability very often."
For those sccoring at home, that was McDavid's ninth consecutive multi-point game, and fourth already this season where he has notched at least four. It's early yet, but compared to a 17-year-old Sidney Crosby with the Rimouski Oceanic a decade back and another relatively recent Canadian Hockey League players who were vying to go first overall, McDavid's 10-game start outstrips them all. (John Tavares actually had a better start in 2007-08 than in his actual draft season of '08-09, so we'll use it.)
Ten-game starts |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | Player | Team | Season | Final PPG |
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29 | Connor McDavid | Erie, OHL | 2014-15 | ? |
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28 | John Tavares | Oshawa, OHL | 2007-08 | 2.00 |
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27 | Sidney Crosby | Rimouski, QMJHL | 2004-05 | 2.71 |
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25 | Dylan Strome | Erie, OHL | 2014-15 | ? |
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25 | Nail Yakupov | Sarnia, OHL | 2011-12 | 1.64 |
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23 | Jonathan Drouin | Halifax, QMJHL | 2012-13 | 2.14 |
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21 | Sam Reinhart | Kootenay, WHL | 2013-14 | 1.75 |
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20 | Taylor Hall | Windsor, OHL | 2009-10 | 1.86 |
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20 | Sam Bennett | Kingston, OHL | 2013-14 | 1.60 |
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18 | Nathan MacKinnon | Halifax, QMJHL | 2012-13 | 1.70 |
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16 | Michael Dal Colle | Oshawa, OHL | 2013-14 | 1.42 |
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15 | Leon Draisaitl | Prince Albert, WHL | 2013-14 | 1.64 |
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14 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Red Deer, WHL | 2010-11 | 1.54 |
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13 | Steven Stamkos | Sarnia, OHL | 2007-08 | 1.72 |
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DeBrincat and Nick Betz, McDavid's other regular wing, each had three-point outings to give the line 10 on the night.
Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.
