Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid was named the best NHL player at the ESPY’s for the third year in a row Thursday night.
He beat out other superstar forwards in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews after he had a record-setting season. McDavid became the fourth player to record over 100 assists in a single season this year, adding on 32 goals for 132 points in 76 games this year.
He didn’t just produce in the regular season, though, as he carried his otherwordly production into the playoffs, scoring eight goals, 34 assists and 42 points in 25 games in the Oilers’ run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. His assists set an NHL record, passing Wayne Gretzky for most in a single playoff, while also becoming the third player in NHL history to have 40 or more points in a single playoff.
In the finals, McDavid helped lead the Oilers from a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7 in the series. Held off the score sheet in Game 1, McDavid had one assist in Game 2, and two in Game 3. But he scored a goal and an three assists in Game 4, adding two goals and two assists in Game 5, becoming the only player in NHL history to record back-to-back four point games in the Finals. Ultimately, the Panthers were able to hold McDavid scoreless in Games 6 and 7.
McDavid was also nominated for the ESPY’s Best Male Athlete, getting beaten out by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Other nominees in that category were the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, and the PGA Tour’s Scottie Scheffler. He had been nominated for that award twice before, losing to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady in 2021, and Ohtani in 2022.
At the awards show Thursday, comedian Nikki Glaser took aim at McDavid and the Oilers, cracking jokes about them losing to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals. McDavid’s teammate, Evander Kane, was in attendance and didn’t seem too impressed with the joke.
