Toronto Maple Leafs place Mitch Marner on LTIR, recall Marshall Rifai from Marlies
Mitch Marner’s move to long-term injured reserve has less to do with a timeline for the Toronto Maple Leafs star’s return and more to do with roster flexibility.
EDMONTON — It was Nov. 11 in Seattle, a Remembrance Day to forget for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers were in town for a game against the Kraken, sitting a solid 31st in the National Hockey League standings and already 18 points behind Vegas in the Pacific. The Stanley Cup favourite of many had stumbled out of the gates with a 2-9-1 record, and that night in Seattle, Jay Woodcroft would coach his final game behind the Oilers’ bench.
At puck drop, Edmonton’s captain stood 126th in the scoring race. Through 11 games he had two goals, 11 points and was a not-so-solid minus-4.
He was injured — had to be, right? — though the most he’d say was, “I feel healthy enough to be out there, and I’ve got to be better.”
Fast forward now to Saturday afternoon where, in as one-sided a game as the NHL can give you, McDavid had two goals and an assist in a 6-1 Oilers win, temporarily climbing into the league’s scoring lead.
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It was a moment that few will remember past whatever happens with this most promising trip around the sun for the Oilers. But it’s worth noting that a player this good can continue to accomplish scoring feats that makes us all shake our collective toques.
“I was thinking about that today on the bench,” began Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who had McDavid as a junior in Erie. “I was amazed when I was watching him in Erie, doing the things he was doing. And that was in junior hockey.
“He’s doing the same things here in the National Hockey League, and it’s amazing.”
Before this piece was even filed post-game, Nathan MacKinnon had notched two first-period assists in Colorado to regain a share of the Art Ross lead. Nikita Kucherov had a Saturday night game against the Islanders, so the Art Ross is far from settled.
But the fact that McDavid has been chasing those two superstars all season long and finally caught up on March 30? It bodes well for an Art Ross race for the ages over the next two-and-a-half weeks.
“It’s nice, I guess,” said the unmoved Oilers captain. “(It’s) a the position I’ve been in many times before.”
The Hart Trophy vote that awaits will also be one to remember, with McDavid fatigue, Auston Matthews’ run at 70 goals, and the possibility that MacKinnon or Kucherov may yet win the scoring title all throwing shade on the voters.
But if McDavid finishes his season with 100 assists, 140-some points and his fourth straight Art Ross Trophy, could his fourth Hart Trophy be far behind?
Some believe that a 70-goal season by Matthews would trump McDavid, though we’d point out that eight players have scaled the 70-goal plateau a total of 14 times.
In fact, 100 assists is a far rarer feat, accomplished 13 times but by only three players: Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux once each, and Wayne Gretzky 11 times.
Frankly, it all bores McDavid, who has stated and restated that the pursuit of individual trophies, for both he and Leon Draisaitl, is a “been there, done that” thing.
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“We’re playing for things bigger than that — making sure our game is in order, and we’re still playing for positioning. There are 10 games left. You never know what could happen,” McDavid said.
The Oilers pulled to within four points of the Vancouver Canucks Saturday for the lead in the Pacific. The Oilers have one game in hand and play the Canucks one more time, though the Canucks host the anemic Ducks on Sunday afternoon.
With 10 games left in their season, it’s all about “getting the game in order, getting your mind right, getting those habits down. There’s still lots to play for in those 10 games,” McDavid said.
“Playing for home ice, and you never know: Van can stumble, maybe. You never know. So, we’ve got to win our games.”
IN THE CREASE: McDavid now has seven consecutive multi-point games, notching his 297th two-or-more-points game Saturday to pass Jari Kurri on the all-time Oilers list. Mark Messier is next in his sights with 300 multi-point games, and then the champ, Wayne Gretzky is at 472. … Oilers are 8-0-1 (43 goals) in their last nine games at home. Statistically, Rogers Place is the NHL’s toughest rink since Jan. 2, with Edmonton forging a 16-2-2 record on home ice in the new year. … It was the 37th time this season the Oilers have scored four or more. Only Dallas (39) has done it more often. … Anaheim has lost 11 of its past 12 games. … Natural Stattrick had the high danger chances at 17-5 for Edmonton Saturday.
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