McDavid off to torrid start with Babcock’s ‘detailed, structured’ Oilers

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid is off to the best offensive start in his NHL career, but his focus is elsewhere.

“I care more about how the game looks overall, and how it feels out there,” the Edmonton Oilers captain said Monday. “It’s been good at times, and there’s been times where I feel like I can do more and everyone can do more. That’s more important.”

McDavid leads the NHL with 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) in eight games for the Oilers, who have won six of them (6-1-1). He has at least one point in each and already has two five-point games, the 15th and 16th of his career. He is off to the best start offensively through eight games since Mario Lemieux had 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. 

The Oilers’ top center can continue his torrid pace when they host the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, MINNHL, Wild+).

“I think the team’s just playing well,” McDavid said. “Anytime the team plays well, you’re going to have guys have success, and I think you’re seeing that kind of throughout. It’s not necessarily on the stat sheet for everybody, but everybody is playing really well, doing things detailed, structured, playing hard, a lot of really good things.”

But McDavid believes there are other factors to his early-season success. 

The 29-year-old benefitted from an extended offseason, an opportunity to heal a foot injury sustained in the Western Conference First Round against the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers were eliminated by the Ducks in six games, their earliest playoff exit since 2020-21 (swept by the Winnipeg Jets). 

Playing on a line with Leon Draisaitl regularly helps too. New Edmonton coach Mike Babcock decided to put the two natural centers together with several forwards unavailable because of injury. 

“That’s just the way we’ve done it. When we get other people back, that doesn’t mean they’re playing together,” Babcock said. “We’re in a spot that we felt we really needed to push with one group and survive with the rest.” 

McDavid and Draisaitl have played together often in the past, but the two have consistently been with each other at even strength this season. Draisaitl has also benefitted playing on a line that also includes right wing Vasily Podkolzin. He ranks second among Oilers forwards with 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in eight games. 

“I think Leo and I, when we did play together it was just a one-off or a situation where we needed to find one and we knew it wasn’t necessarily a long-term thing,” McDavid said. “So, to be able to have a stretch of games playing together -- who knows what happens moving forward -- but playing together has been so much fun, obviously, along with (Podkolzin) and (Mattias Ekholm) and (Evan Bouchard).

“I’ve said all along being out there with those guys, everybody knows where each other is, everybody has been reading off each other, playing fast, and everybody can make a play. It’s a pretty fun group to be out there with.”

Babcock has pushed the right buttons thus far and is getting the most from the Oilers roster. He is also impressed by the numbers McDavid has posted this season, although not necessarily his scoring. 

“Well, I like the plus-19, so that would be the focus for me,” Babcock said. “You’re playing against good people and you’re doing things, obviously 5-on-5, to dominate the game. (McDavid and Draisaitl) are playing together and they’re playing well, and (Podkolzin) is a real good player who gives them the dimension just like (Zach Hyman) would give them.”

Babcock is familiar with coaching star players, having won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2007-08, along with the Olympic gold medal with Canada in 2010 and 2014. McDavid is up there with the best of them. 

“I just think he’s a real good player, but what he is is a better person, a better man, and he drives his teammates not by what he says because you get confused with leadership -- it’s not what you say, it’s what you do,” Babcock said. “It’s what you model each and every day, and he does it right.”

Babcock, who was coaxed out of retirement to coach Edmonton, is not taking credit for McDavid’s early success. He is simply focusing on the process of making the Oilers a better team each day. 

“What I’m trying to have a standard that’s an Edmonton Oilers standard, and this is the way we play,” Babcock said. “This is what we do, and this is how we can be successful. We’re building our game; we’re early in it. I try not to get too excited and I try not to get too down. I just try to get ready for the next day. 

“We want to win today and then we can win tomorrow. We have to win today by having a good practice and that’s kind of our focus, and we’re doing the same with those guys.”