McDavid aims to score more with Oilers

TORONTO --Connor McDavid is coming off a season when he scored 41 goals with the Edmonton Oilers, but he is not satisfied that it's the best he can do.

"I've always said I want to score more," the 21-year-old center said at BioSteel Camp on Monday. "That's what I want to do, find ways to score. I think I'm a good passer and can make plays, but there's definitely a knack to putting the puck in the net. I seemed to find it a little bit later in the year last year and hope to carry it into this year."
From Feb. 1 until the end of the regular season, McDavid scored 26 goals in 33 games, including a four-goal game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 5 and a hat trick against the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 18. During that stretch, he scored at a pace of 0.79 goals per game, which over a full 82-game season would put him at 64 goals.
RELATED:[*Nurse expects to sign contract with Oilers before training camp*]
In his first 49 games last season, McDavid scored 15 goals (0.31 goals per game). Despite scoring 71 goals over the past two seasons, 10th most in the NHL in that span, McDavid said he is always determined to get better and do more.
"You just want to continue on the growth that I think I've been on," McDavid said. "There's always ways to improve your game and be more dangerous and dynamic."
McDavid had an NHL career-high 108 points in 2017-18 to earn his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer in the NHL despite skating with several different linemates throughout the season before finishing on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ty Rattie.
"We juggled the lines a lot last year, and that's just kind of how it worked out," McDavid said. "Obviously it would be nice to play with a consistent line and a group, but if that's not how it works out again, then so be it. I had a lot of fun playing with Ryan and Ty, but not sure what it's going to look like to begin."

The Oilers will be looking to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after finishing 17 points behind the Avalanche for the second wild card from the Western Conference. In McDavid's second NHL season, the Oilers ended a 10-year playoff drought before losing Game 7 to the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Second Round.
"I don't think it changes much," McDavid said when asked if the disappointment of last season altered how he approached his offseason training. "You're just supposed to go in and work hard, and I think the only thing that really changes is the bitter taste in everyone's mouth of where we finished and where we left off last year. Everyone had a good summer, worked hard and now it's time to show up."

McDavid signed an eight-year, $100 million contract extension July 5, 2017, that will keep him from becoming an unrestricted free agent until after the 2025-26 season, but that did not stop him from keeping an eye on how John Tavares approached his unrestricted free agency this offseason. Tavares signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1 after playing his first nine NHL seasons with the New York Islanders.
"At first, you're just happy for him," McDavid said. "I'm sure it was a long and grueling process that I'm sure he didn't enjoy too much, but obviously it's a good deal for both sides and he's going to get to come play where he grew up. That's a dream of his that he wanted to fulfill. He's going to help their team a lot. He's probably one of the best players in the world, a top-10 player in the world, so anytime you can add that it's going to help."