Forecasting Connor McDavid’s 2017-18

The ink has not yet begun to dry on the brand new contract that Connor McDavid has signed. McDavid's ginormous 8-year, 100 million dollar deal will see him remain an Oiler at least until he turns 29 years of age. McDavid's deal buys into three seasons of unrestricted free agency, another huge cog for the Oilers in this deal. Critics of the deal will say that this is too much. They are wrong.

Simply put, McDavid is the face of the Edmonton Oilers. We often debate good contracts and bad contracts here, but you probably could’ve thrown Whyte Avenue in the deal and it would still be a home run. McDavid’s 2016-17 saw him run the show, scoring 100 points in his first full season as a member of the Oilers. That’s not half bad. McDavid's 100 point season was the largest total since Doug Weight had 90 four million years ago.

There was help, there was support. Leon Draisaitl had himself a doozy of a season, scoring 77 points in the process. Cam Talbot turned in a .919 SV%, which was more than anyone could ask for. Patrick Maroon burst onto the scene with 27 goals. There’s a very strong case to be made that both Draisaitl and Maroon reaped some serious benefits from playing alongside McDavid, adding some padding to Draisaitl and Maroon’s numbers.

HOW MANY POINTS IN 2017-18?

It’s fun to look at a player’s career arc and try to determine what they are capable of next season. It’s especially fun to look at McDavid because while we have a general idea based on this past season, there’s still a high degree for variance. A hundred points in one full season of play is quite a significant accomplishment. If McDavid can turn back-to-back hundred point seasons, it would be an extraordinary accomplishment.

There’s a lot of questions that I have.

• 100 points! Wow, can he do that again?
• Can he do more? He shot 12% last year. That seems perfectly within the lines.
• Patrick Maroon and Leon Draisaitl benefitted from being on the same line with him, but not so much Milan Lucic. Can he make any speedy winger look good? Can he make Anton Slepyshev or Jesse Puljujarvi 60 point players?
• What about all those times he had a clear shot but passed the puck?
• Is this to end, or just begin?

McDavid is a top-tier talent. I’m excited every time I get to see him play, and he’s got the ability to swing the entire game. I think there’s a very good chance he scores 100 points several times throughout his career, and I’m not really sure what his ceiling is at this point. I’ve run this series for a few years now starting with Jordan Eberle in 2013, and 2017-18’s Connor McDavid might just blow all of our predictions out of the water.

So how many points does 97 have in 2017-18?