Oilers notebook: Connor McDavid reaches 800 NHL game milestone Tuesday

History is a crazy thing, sometimes.

Like, it’s Connor McDavid’s 800th NHL game Tuesday night, with the Oilers captain playing the Los Angeles Kings. This is the exact opposite of Wayne Gretzky’s 800th NHL game. Gretzky was then the Kings’ captain back on Nov. 15, 1989, playing against the Oilers, who got goals from Craig MacTavish and Esa Tikkanen. Gretzky, in the Kings’ silks, got an assist on Marty McSorley’s goal in a 2-2 tie.

Nobody noticed MacTavish’s goal or Tikkanen’s snipe, of course.

It was All Gretzky All The Time.

Any memories from MacT?

“I’m just shocked I scored,” he said.

McDavid, 29, will have more points in his first 800 games than anybody other than Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Heady company, indeed. McDavid went into Tuesday’s Oilers game with 1,233 points. Gretzky, then 28, had 1,892 points through Game 800. Lemieux, because of his cancer fight and his bad back, missed so many games in Pittsburgh; he was 36 on his 800th game, Jan. 12, 2002. He hit 1,580 points.

MacTavish played with and against Gretzky and battled Lemieux as a checking centre. Gretzky had the game’s greatest hockey IQ, eyes in the back of his head, the play slowing down for him; Lemieux had the softest hands, and Pterodactyl reach to keep opponents flailing to check him. And McDavid? Is he somehow completely different from the other two?

“Yes, definitely,” said MacTavish, who fortunately never had to match wits with a player like McDavid whose hands match his feet, with his ability to make fantastic plays at his warp speed.

MacTavish does wonder about McDavid and the ultimate 2,000 plateau. Only Gretzky at 2,857 points has ever reached it. Lemieux (1,723) would have if his medical concerns hadn’t KO’d his shot at it. Jaromir Jagr is closest at 1,921. Of current players, Sidney Crosby has 1,763 points, but he’s 39, and the chances of hitting 2,000 are slim. Alex Ovechkin (1,689) is in his last NHL season. Nikita Kucherov, you say? What about him? He has 1,132 points but he’s 33 in Tampa. Oiler Leon Drasaitl has 1,062 points and turns 31 later this month.

McDavid, who turns 30 in January, could get another 100 points this season, which would put him at 1,333 and if he stays healthy, the sky’s the limit.

“2000? I’d say yes to Connor doing it,” said MacTavish.

McDavid has 412 goals and 821 assists, an average of 1.54 points a game.

While it was a natural inclination to think Colorado head coach Jared Bednar might give his fellow Saskatchewan-born bench boss Kris Knoblauch a text or call to see if he might be interested in replacing his departing Avs’ assistant Dave Hakstol (Arizona State), they may already have somebody else in mind.

It could be Brett McLean, who coaches on Adam Foote’s staff in Vancouver and used to play for the Avs 20 years ago with Joe Sakic, the Colorado GM.

So, Knoblauch’s time away from a hockey bench after being fired this past spring continues with that tidy three-year Oilers contract in his back pocket to ease the pain.

Knoblauch, who was Hakstol’s assistant in Philadelphia from 2017-2019, remains in no hurry to coach again, for family reasons. There was a summer hint of Perry Pearn maybe contacting Knoblauch to see if he wanted to help at Pearn’s long-time 3-on-3 pro camp on the northside before NHL camps, but Pearn, head coach of the Chinese men’s national team, already had a full coaching 3-on-3 roster.

Knoblauch, who turned 48 three weeks ago, won’t be totally idle, however. He’s going to lend a hand to WHL Lethbridge Hurricanes head coach Matt Anholt for a while. Matt’s dad, Peter, the ‘Canes current GM, helped get Knoblauch his first coaching job in Prince Albert 20 years ago.

Anholt, Dave Tippett’s brother Brad and Knoblauch were assistant coaches for Rick Wilson in ’86-87. Knoblauch, who turned 48 three weeks ago, will also drop by a friend’s local U13 team for a few practices

Bruce Cassidy (Vegas), Craig Berube (Leafs) and Knoblauch, who all coached in the NHL last season, all have time left on their contracts.

• Surprisingly, Oilers winger Zach Hyman didn’t get the go-ahead from the medical people to play Tuesday, so he missed his fifth straight game. Max Jones and Hyman were the extra forwards. Defenceman Jake Walman also sat out (shot block arm).
• In the recent block of Los Angeles Kings’ operations movements, was the hire of GM Ken Holland’s son Brad as a pro scout. Brad was an AGM and director of pro scouting here. He left in 2024.
• Most dangerous Kings’ player against the Oilers Tuesday? Adrian Kempe. Over the last five years, Kempe, currently on their top line with Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield, has scored 21 times against them.
• The Kings only have 20 healthy skaters on their roster, and will go 11 forwards and seven D against the Oilers with Darcy Kuemper in net.
• Milan Lucic, who retired on his 38th birthday after 17 NHL seasons (three years, 243 games with the Oilers), is living in L.A. and a Western-based pro scout for Buffalo. Also on the Sabres scouting list is former Oiler Frank Musil. Frank looks after amateurs.
• Former World Hockey Association Oiler and junior Oil Kings defenceman Kerry Ketter has passed away of colon cancer. He was 79. There will be a Celebration of Life at the Derrick Oct. 30 at 2 pm. Ketter played 41 NHL games for the first-year Atlanta Flames’ in 1972-73 (Bernie Geoffrion was head coach) before getting into 48 games in 1975-76 when Clare Drake was head coach. Ketter was a WHA teammate of Normie Ullman, Bruce MacGregor and Al Hamilton. He also had three seasons with Oil Kings from 1965-68, winning the Memorial Cup in 1966. Ace Bailey, Billy Moores, Bob Falkenberg, Ross Perkins and Ron Walters were some of junior teammates. Ketter later became long-time head golf pro at the Derrick.
• The AHL Bakersfield team is slow-playing feisty winger Connor Clattenburg in the first four games. Their task is to making him a more complete winger so he has a shot at the NHL. They don’t want to remove what makes Clattenburg tick—his hard-edged game—but his penchant for penalties is hindering him. Stick tap to Bruce Curlock who has noticed Clattenburg leads the AHL with seven minors (three for tripping, one hooking, three for roughing).
• Oil Kings’ centre Kayden Stroeder, ranked from mid-first-round to the latter stages of the opening 32 NHL draft picks next June, will likely be named to the CHL’s lineup for the two games against the USA’s best prospects Dec. 1-2 in Quebec. Oil Kings’ assistant coach Kyle Chipchura will be part of the CHL’s coaching staff.
• As farmhand Quinn Hutson keeps scoring in Bakersfield—35 goals in his last 71 games over this season and last—it’s becoming clear he’s too good for the AHL. But there’s no room for him right now in Edmonton. He’s effectively blocked by Matt Savoie and Ike Howard on their organization’s depth chart. He’s like the bigger winger Raphael Lavoie several years back before Vegas claimed him on waivers. Lavoie lit it up in the minors and currently is on the Golden Knights roster.
• Finnish goalie Eemil Vinni, who has come to North America for the first time, is in Fort Wayne, Oilers’ ECHL affiliate, as part of a three-headed monster with Samuel Jonsson and Nathaniel Day. Realistically, they may have to find a team to loan either Day or Vinni so they get more playing time.

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