OilersNation has reported:

Connor McDavid is set to play his 800th regular-season game Monday night as the Edmonton Oilers visit the Los Angeles Kings. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time and will air on SN1. McDavid has 1,233 points, including 412 goals and 821 assists, in 799 games since entering the NHL in October 2015.

His points total through 799 games is third among the players listed through 800 games, behind Wayne Gretzky’s 1,892 and Mario Lemieux’s 1,580. McDavid has averaged 1.54 points per game. Mike Bossy is fourth in the comparison with 1,126 points in 752 games, followed by Peter Stastny with 1,108, Guy Lafleur with 1,106, Steve Yzerman with 1,103, Marcel Dionne with 1,102, Phil Esposito with 1,099 and Jari Kurri with 1,080.

Gretzky’s totals in his first 800 games were 649 goals and 1,243 assists, for 1,892 points at 2.37 per game. Lemieux had 649 goals and 931 assists for 1,580 points at 1.98 per game. McDavid’s listed seasons run from 2015-16 to 2026-27, while Gretzky’s span 1979-80 to 1989-90, Lemieux’s 1984-85 to 2001-02, Bossy’s 1977-78 to 1986-87, Stastny’s 1980-81 to 1990-91, Lafleur’s 1971-72 to 1982-83, Yzerman’s 1983-84 to 1993-94, Dionne’s 1971-72 to 1981-82, Esposito’s 1963-64 to 1974-75 and Kurri’s 1980-81 to 1991-92.

Since McDavid arrived, Leon Draisaitl ranks second in NHL scoring with 1,053 points. Nathan MacKinnon has 1,051, Nikita Kucherov has 1,049 and Artemi Panarin is fifth with 958. McDavid has at least 300 more points than every player except those four, and leads three future Hall of Famers by between 180 and 184 points. The source account says none of the seven players below him had 1,233 points in 900 games, which means McDavid will also rank third in points through 900 games.

The comparison in the source places McDavid among the most dominant players of his era, alongside Gretzky and Lemieux, who led the NHL in the 1980s and 1990s. It describes him as one of a small group of generational players that also includes Bobby Orr, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Gordie Howe. The account says Crosby and Ovechkin continue to produce: Ovechkin scored the most goals over the previous 11 full seasons, while Crosby ranked seventh in points at the start of this season. Those were seasons 11 through 21 of their careers, and both are beginning their 22nd season. McDavid produced more points than either in his first decade, prompting the projection that he could remain in the top five when New York Islanders prospect Matthew Schaefer is entering his 12th season.

McDavid’s 2,000-point pace is another focus ahead of the milestone. He needs 767 more points to reach that mark and first recorded 767 points in his 524th game, at an average of 1.46 points per game. Across his most recent 275 games, he has averaged 1.70 points per game. Only in his first three NHL seasons did he finish below a 1.46-point-per-game average, with rates of 1.07, 1.22 and 1.32. The account says 2,000 points appears likely, barring injury, based on his first 799 games.

McDavid, Patrick Kane and Crosby have each played the same number of games since the start of the 2015-16 season, tying them for 48th in games played over that span. Brent Burns leads with 869 and is due to play his 1,013th consecutive game Monday, continuing his pursuit of Phil Kessel’s ironman streak. Claude Giroux and Mikael Backlund are tied for second with 855 games. Current or former Oilers among the top 48 include Cody Ceci, 20th with 827; Mattias Ekholm, 21st with 826; Draisaitl, 24th with 823; Ryan Strome, 43rd with 803; and Darnell Nurse, 47th with 801.

Monday will be McDavid’s 38th regular-season game against Los Angeles. He has scored 19 goals and 47 points in 37 games against the Kings, including nine goals and 12 assists in 19 road games, for 1.27 points per game. Only Buffalo, at 1.16 points per game, Minnesota and the New York Islanders, each at 1.21, and St. Louis, at 1.126, have held him to a lower rate. Edmonton is 4-3 in his previous seven 100-game milestones and 3-1 on the road in milestone games.

The Oilers won McDavid’s 100th game 1-0 in a shootout in Montreal, where he had no points. They beat Carolina 7-2 in his 200th game, when he had one goal and one assist, then lost 3-1 in Detroit in game 300, with McDavid recording an assist. Edmonton beat Calgary 4-1 in game 400, with McDavid collecting one goal and two assists. The Oilers lost 5-4 to Washington in game 500, despite his goal and assist, then won 3-2 in a shootout in Los Angeles in game 600, when he had a goal and an assist. Edmonton lost 6-2 to Anaheim in game 700, with McDavid scoring once and assisting once.

The Oilers’ penalty kill has improved after allowing five goals on its first nine kills of the season. It has since killed six straight penalties, though Edmonton remains 29th in the league at 66.7 per cent. Los Angeles is 31st at 56.3 per cent after allowing seven goals on 16 penalty kills. The Kings have killed all six opposing power plays at home, but on the road have allowed seven goals on 10 kills, a 30 per cent success rate.

Los Angeles has played a widely spaced opening schedule: Sept. 30, Oct. 3, 6 and 10, then Monday, Oct. 13. It has had at least two days between every game and is scheduled next for Oct. 17 and 20. The Kings are 0-2-2. Edmonton’s early schedule has also been considered favourable, though the source account notes that Anaheim is 4-0 in its other games, with wins over Vegas, Florida, Winnipeg and Calgary; Seattle is 4-1 in its other five games and scored at least five goals in four of them; and San Jose is 3-1 in its other four, with all three wins in overtime. Edmonton beat Anaheim 5-2 and held Seattle to one goal. Anaheim has the NHL’s fourth-best points percentage, Seattle is 10th and San Jose is tied for 13th. After Los Angeles, Edmonton is scheduled to play Utah twice, at home and away, then Minnesota and Carolina, a tougher stretch of opponents.

Vasily Podkolzin has five goals in five games and has looked strong on the top line. Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie are expected to return later, alongside Colton Dach and Mattias Janmark, who also skated during the road trip. None is expected back this week; Dach and Nugent-Hopkins are the closest, but remain at least a week away. Hyman is not ready to play, though the team hopes he can return later in the week. The injured forwards could take about a month, or possibly longer, to return in full. Mike Babcock said he would have split McDavid and Draisaitl on the road if the team had been healthy. The account raises whether Podkolzin would then play with McDavid or Draisaitl, and says Filip Hallander could remain in the lineup after impressing in his first game against San Jose with his forechecking and skating. It says a trade of Spencer Stastney, who was unlikely to play unless Edmonton had two injuries, for Hallander could prove a major gain if Hallander becomes a regular forward.

Rookie Owen Michaels has taken 31 defensive-zone faceoffs, the most on the Oilers. McDavid and Draisaitl have taken 19 and 12, respectively, matching Michaels’ total combined. Michaels has won 20 and lost 11, a 64.5 per cent rate that ranks fifth among NHL centres with at least 25 defensive-zone draws. Charlie Coyle leads that group at 77.4 per cent, followed by Vincent Trocheck at 70.9, William Karlsson at 68.3 and Sean Couturier at 65.8.

Edmonton’s listed lineup has Podkolzin, McDavid and Draisaitl together; Hallander, Dickinson and Kapanen; Formenton, Michaels and Joseph; and Frederic, Samanski and Howard. The defence pairings are Ekholm-Bouchard, Shea-Murphy and Mukhamadullin-Emberson, with Devon Levi starting in goal. It is otherwise the same lineup that won in San Jose. Edmonton’s third and fourth lines scored timely goals in that game, the first in which the top line was not needed to carry the offence.

The listed Los Angeles lineup has Panarin, Byfield and Kempe on the top line; Moore, Haula and Laferriere; Armia, Laughton and Perry; and Lee and Helenius. The defence pairings are Edmundson-Clarke, Dumoulin-Doughty and Anderson-Ceci. Gustavsson and Kuemper are listed in goal. The Kings’ power play had two two-man advantages in its previous game and scored on neither. The source says the team could use Kevin Fiala and/or Mats Zuccarello on the man advantage. Zuccarello skated with the main group Monday morning but will not play that night. Los Angeles’ top line is described as very good, with coach Peter Laviolette facing a choice between matching it against McDavid’s line or using Haula’s line; the account anticipates shifts with the top lines opposing each other.