The 2024–25 season marks Connor McDavid’s 10th NHL season. Even in just 10 seasons, McDavid has a hall of fame worthy resume, with seven 100-point seasons, five Art Ross Trophies, four Ted Lindsay Trophies, three Hart Memorial Trophies, a Maurice Rocket Richard, and a Conn Smythe Trophy.
You would expect any player with that kind of hardware to have a heck of a highlight reel, and McDavid is no different. In fact, he is on a whole other level from the rest of the players in terms of highlight reel plays, seemingly putting one up every game.
So it makes it a pretty hard task to pick only nine highlights, let alone just one per season. But I’ve done the hard part and watched as many of his highlights as I could so you don’t have to. I know, I know, not all heroes wear capes.
2015–16: McDavid’s return to play
Remember when I said it would be hard to pick a top highlight for each year? Well, that doesn’t apply in McDavid’s rookie season. In his first game back after missing three months with a broken collarbone, McDavid returned with a bang, with a beautiful toe drag to split the two defencemen followed by a deke that undressed the goalie so bad his jock strap is probably still in the rafters of old Rexall Place. Nine years later and this goal still regularly appears on McDavid’s top highlight reels.
2016–17: A comeback attempt
Ok this year definitely has multiple candidates. There’s a nice kick pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, his seemingly annual tradition of scoring a beautiful goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs by going by Morgan Rielly, or undressing Zdeno Chara before feeding Patrick Maroon.
But the best play has to be this goal in Game 3 of the second round against the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers were down 3-2 in the second when McDavid decided to turn things around…literally.
What looked like a nothing skate to the top of the zone ended up leading to a goal thanks to McDavid’s ridiculous edges giving him a wide open shot at the faceoff dot, where he makes no mistake. We don’t talk about the rest of that game, or series, though.
2017–18: An effortless assist
Another year of too many choices. There’s the burning speed against the rival Flames, hand eye coordination against the Avalanche, shortside goal in a four goal outburst against the Lightning,
But this assist by McDavid was a beauty, and the fact that it was a spinorama against the Chicago Blackhawks, where Denis Savard played, makes it even better (granted, it was actually Serge Savard who was the muse for the term the “Savardian Spin”).
McDavid shrugged off future teammate and two time Norris Trophy winner, Duncan Keith, like he was nothing more than a slight breeze on the ODR, and then fed a wide open Patrick Maroon who everyone but McDavid forgot existed.
Granted, this somewhat similar assist against the Penguins is arguably even nicer, but there is just something about how effortless McDavid makes this one look that puts it number one for me.
2018–19: A forgotten goal
The one highlight you’ve probably seen the most from this season was his between the legs goal against Dallas. It’s also probably the only one, in what was a pretty forgettable and disappointing season for the Oilers, finishing second last in the Pacific Division and missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
So you can be forgiven for forgetting this goal against the San Jose Sharks. Even I forgot about it for my article on McDavid goals you forgot about. Forget-ception, if you will.
To be fair, as you can see in the clip, the Oilers were down 7–3 with 10 seconds left in the game, so it’s not surprising this didn’t get more hype.
But when talking about McDavid’s hand-eye coordination, this is definitely one of the best examples. It’s not just tracking the puck and getting a stick on it, but being deft enough to tap it just hard enough to get it over Jones’ glove, but not so hard as to hit it over the entire net is the definition of soft hands.
2019–20: What a goal
Despite being a season shortened by injury and then a worldwide pandemic, McDavid still delivered on the highlight reel. There was the alley-oop goal against the Flyers, the get knocked down but get up again versus the Ducks, or the speed against the Canadiens.
But the winner by far is this one against the Leafs. Remember the tradition of highlight reel goals against Toronto mentioned above? Well this one might be the best one. At the very least, you have to love the call of “what a move, what a play, what a goal!”
Like the goal against Anaheim in 2017, this is another play that shows off McDavid’s edges. It looks like McDavid has no real options, coming in slowly alone with no support, even if he was one on one against Morgan Rielly. But then McDavid must have decided that he didn’t need any help, and turns on the jets in record speed to blow past the hapless defenceman to get himself all alone with the goalie. He then tops it off with a beautiful deke on the goalie and putting it top shelf where mama hides the cookies.
2020–21: McDavid beats the Leafs
A year later, McDavid once again victimized the Maple Leafs for a goal of the year candidate. As is tradition.
McDavid went past all four Leafs on the ice to score this one, but if you removed them all from the video it would like McDavid is just going for a skate down the middle of the ice in practice, that is how smooth it was.
Add in the fact that the reverse retro jerseys that year were absolute beauties and this is just a *chef’s kiss* of a goal.
2021–22: McDavid undresses the Rangers
Not only is this the best highlight of the season, it is arguably the best highlight of his career. I mean, even McDavid is surprised at how good it was after he scored.
What might be even more impressive is that two weeks later he did a slightly lesser version of it against the Winnipeg Jets.
Sure, you could argue his Battle of Alberta playoff series winner should be the highlight of the year, and I’m sure if you asked McDavid he would pick that one. But this goal against the New York Rangers was just so insane it can’t be topped. And to be fair, this one was also a clutch goal, as it tied the game when the Oilers were down 4–1 at one point.
2022–23: Can he still surprise you?
2022–23 seemed to be a season where McDavid was doing re-recordings of his greatest hits, which made it the hardest year to pick one as the best.
Do you go with the behind the back pass from behind the net against the Blackhawks? Or the one against the Ducks?
Or what about end to end rushes? Against LA? Seattle?
And let’s not forget about the usual highlight reel goal against the Leafs. But is it this one or this one?
Shortside goals? Sure, we have those: would you like Arizona or Pittsburgh?
But the best remix has to be this one against the Ducks. It combines the sudden cut back of his one from 2017 with a spin giving it a bit more flourish, and then finishing it off with a ridiculous backhand that would give Crosby a run for his money.
2023–24: Just like magic
This goal against Dallas in Game 6 to open the scoring would normally qualify as the highlight of the year, given how nice it is plus the importance of it.
But if we are talking just pure entertaining highlight, then this goal against Nashville wins.
Sure, there was definitely some luck on this goal, but good to be lucky and lucky to be good right? Plus, just because it is a little lucky doesn’t mean it can’t be a highlight. If anything, it makes it even more mesmerizing.
The fact that McDavid’s spin on his knees kept his momentum going enough that when the puck did happen to follow him he was able to pick it right back up and head in on net was certainly impressive, whether purposeful or not.
Plus, I’m not totally convinced that this wasn’t some kind of Jedi mind trick that McDavid has now added to his arsenal. I mean, when it comes to new skills he could acquire, that’s basically it.
McDavid will continue to impress
If there’s one thing we can see from the above, it’s that we can look forward to another year of many McDavid plays that leave us slackjawed and speechless, mixed with ones that make you jump out of your seat screaming. The only question to ask is how does he top his previous stuff? And in which game against the Leafs will it be?
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
