Although it is still early in their playoff careers, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have put their names among the best playoff performers of all time. Heading into this series, they were behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in the standings for most playoff points in their first 50 career playoff games.
Through the first five games of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they have picked up right where they’ve left off.
In the five game win over the Los Angeles Kings, McDavid recorded one goal and 12 points while Draisaitl had five goals and 10 points.
In their playoff careers, they both now have 87 points in 54 games.
Currently, at 1.61 points per playoff game, they are tied with each other and with Lemieux for second all-time, behind only Gretzky.
Impressively, this surpasses their regular season performance. McDavid, over 645 regular season games, has 982 points (1.52 points per game). Draisaitl, over 719 regular season games, has 850 points (1.18 points per game.
The sharp increase in production, especially from Draisaitl, in the biggest games and moments is indicative of how elite of talents these two superstars are.
McDavid playoff performance
Although his playoff career may have started off slowly with a pedestrian nine points in 13 games during his first playoff run, McDavid ramped things up and has been unbelievable since.
A highlight thus far would be his play in the 2021–22 run in which the Oilers were swept in the Conference Finals by the Colorado Avalanche.
Despite not even playing in the final round, McDavid led the playoffs in scoring with 33 points in 16 games.
Starting 2023–24 with 12 points in five games has him on pace to break that record, and depending on how many games the Oilers end up playing, could put him near the all-time record for points in a single playoff season.
Draisaitl playoff performance
Draisaitl has always been something of a playoff wizard. Every single playoff season, he has surpassed a point per game pace, his lowest being five points in four games in 2020–21 when the Oilers were swept in the first round by the Winnipeg Jets.
He has always come up big, even in 2021–22 when he suffered a high ankle sprain in the opening round versus the Los Angeles Kings. That season, he finished one point back of McDavid in the league’s playoff scoring race (32 points). Most impressively, in the second round rout of the Calgary Flames where Draisaitl recorded 17 points in five games.
That total is the third highest all time, two points back of the all-time record of 19. This leaves him behind only Rick Middleton (who had 19 points in seven games), Gretzky (18 points in six games) and tied with Lemieux (17 points in six games).
Although the playoff pedigree of these two unbelievable players will always be in question without their names engraved on the Stanley Cup, their individual performances are enough to place them without a doubt as two of the best playoff performers of all time.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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