The race to first in points by a player this season isn't like the one we witnessed in 2016-17. Connor cranked out 100 points. He finished 11 points up on both Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby to win his first Art Ross Trophy.
"This one has been way different," said McDavid. "I'm not leading and then trying to add points to pull away. Instead, I'm the one doing the chasing." The player everyone is chasing is Tampa's Nikita Kucherov. The pair entered Sunday's game two points apart. By the time it was over the Lightning forward doubled his lead to four. A challenge but not an insurmountable one. Remember Feb. 5th. Connor had 5 points Nikita had none. A 10-point lead was cut in half in 60 minutes of hockey.
"I've thought about it (the scoring race) but it's not the most important thing," explained the reigning champ.
In fact, he's been thinking about it for years but not as a player. Instead, simply as a fan of the game.
"I wouldn't say since I was a kid but it started when I was a teenager," explained the former OHL scoring champ. "About the time I was playing junior I was itching to see who was leading the NHL scoring race."
Imagine what it felt like to be the one doing that last season. It was a special time for the entire Oilers organization.
"I've been around a lot of players who have been high scorers," said Connor's coach. "Joe Thornton, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg but they were older. Connor's a young star and he's pushing for another title."
The push is definitely on. You can see it from the youngest captain in NHL history and he has 10 more games to make his point(s).