Insane Stats Early into the 2021-22 NHL Season

With 28/32 teams hitting the 20 games played mark, I think it is safe to call it the end of the first quarter of the 2021-22 NHL season and it has been a sight to see.

Fans have returned to buildings and have welcomed a new franchise with the Seattle Kraken, Alex Ovechkin proving age is just a number with his play while Zdeno Chara and Joe Thorton are doing so by still playing, the Oilers duo kicking off right where they left off in the 2020-21 season, and that’s just for starters. 

The top 5 points leaders are all on pace for over 120 points on the season. Yes, I know it is early and I know that this would assume all of these guys stay healthy for the rest of the season but that is still a lot of scoring to start off the year. 

Alex Ovechkin, Nazem Kadri and Evgeny Kuznetsov being the most surprising in that top 5 with all three being within 5 points of passing their season ending totals from 2020-21. Ovechkin stands out the most to me as he is playing like he is back in his mid 20s and I am starting to ask myself, is this guy possibly MVP? Too early to say but as of now, maybe. 

Here are ten statistics that are insane to see at the start of the 2021-22 NHL season. As mentioned before, the projected statistics are assuming that players are playing out the rest of the games this season and that they can keep up with their current pace.

1. Ovechkin’s 2021-22 season has started off hot with 19G-18A-37P points in 23 games. This is a projected season ending total of 67G-64A-131P. That would be the first time since the 2009-2010 season when he was 24 years old and over his career high 112 points from his 2007-08 MVP season. Those are crazy numbers for the 36 year old who is now just 5 points shy of his season ending 42 points last year. As always, keep your eyes on Ovechkin.

2. Connor Mcdavid’s 17-game point streak to start the season was the longest point streak to start a season since Henrik Zetterberg had a 17-game point streak start in 2007-08. Fans shouldn’t be too disappointed that it ended as it was still a long way for Gretkzky’s 51-game point streak to start the season. 

3. Outside of his amazing 1-on-4 or 1-on-3 goals, McDavid is actually not the Edmonton Oilers player you should be watching most. Leon Draisaitl is currently playing at 2.00 points-per-game rate as he has 20G-20A-40P in 20 games. With this pace he would be the first player to get over 160 points since Mario Lemiuex had 161 points in the 1995-96 season. 

4. Draisaitl’s 2.00 points-per-game average is also higher than McDavid’s previous league leading season with 1.88 points-per-game. If the 2020-21 season was a full 82 game season, McDavid was on pace for over 150 points. Must be something in that Edmonton water that got these two going these past two seasons.
5. These forwards are not the only ones on pace for a lot of points as Cale Makar is also getting in on the action with 9G, 11A, and 20P in 16  games, missing two with an upper-body injury. Makar is currently on pace to be the first defenseman with 100+ points since the 1991‑92 season when Brian Leetch had 22G, 80A, 102P. Assuming he will finish the season with 80 games played, Makar is also on pace for 45 goals which would be the first time at that mark since Paul Coffey’s 1985-86 season total of 48 goals and would be the third defenseman in history to get over 40 goals. Wow!

6. There are currently seven defenseman who are on pace for over 0.90 points-per-game with Makar (1.25), Adam Fox (1.05), and John Carlson (0.96) leading the pack. If this pace can be maintained by all seven, this would be the most since the 1992-93 season when nine defenseman hit this mark.

7. Out of all the goaltenders this season with at least 10 games played, only one is top 5 in every major category (wins, save percentage, goals against average, shutouts). That goalie is Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He currently sits in 1st for GAA, SV%, tied for 1st in Wins and tied for 2nd in shutouts. Not a bad start for the third year Maple Leafs goalie.

8. The below are the current league rankings based on points and there are some interesting things to point out. For starters, of the top ten teams only six ended their 2020-21 season there with four new teams (Flames, Oilers, Rangers, Blues) entering. Out of the top five teams, only two (Hurricanes and Panthers) ended there last year. The most shocking team to be in the top five, let alone the top ten teams is the Flames as they currently sit at 5th and ended 2020-21 sitting at 21st in the league. Quite the move in the ranks if you ask me.

2021-22 Top Ten Teams (Based on Points)

9. Although they are not in the top ten list above, the Colorado Avalanche are making waves in the goal scoring column. They sit at the top of the league in goals for/per game with a 4.00 average. An average over 4.00 has not been met since the Pittsburgh Penguins finished the 1995-96 season with a 4.41 average. This is all without their star-player, Nathan Mackinnon who has only played eight of the team’s 18 games. Imagine how many more goals they could score when he returns!

10. My final statistic of the 2021-22 season goes back to my “age is just a number” comment from the beginning. The NHL has three players currently 40-years old or older including Zdeno Chara (44), Joe Thornton (42), and Craig Anderson (40). This would make them the oldest players combined who are over 40 who all played in one season at 126 combined years. This beats out the second oldest trio from the 2005-06 season when Chris Chelios (43), Dominik Hasek (41), and Mario Lemiuex (40) combined for 124 years. The current record holder for oldest player to suit up for an NHL game is Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe who played his final season in 1979-80 at age 52. Can Chara play nine more seasons or will a bigger plot twist occur with a Jaromir Jagr comeback 4 years from now to break that record? Only time will tell.

Again, I know that it’s still early in the season and most of these numbers are based on the hope all players play the rest of the 2021-22 campaign but some of these scoring numbers are insane! 

Most of these projections probably won’t happen but one can hope as NHL fans would witness scoring totals most haven’t seen since the 90s and others may have never seen.

 If I could pick two stats to actually happen it would be Ovechkin’s 67 goal/131 point season at age 36 and Draisaitl’s 164 total points for the first 160 point season since 1995-95. 

It will be interesting to see the rest of the season unfold. Stay tuned for a mid-season statistic report.

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