McDavid may eclipse Crosby’s second season

As far as sophomore seasons go, Sidney Crosby had one of the best the NHL had ever seen.

Crosby notched 120 points during his second season with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2006-07), the sixth-highest total for a sophomore in history — trailing Wayne Gretzky (164), Mario Lemieux (141), Peter Stastny (139), Kent Nilsson (131), and Mike Bossy (126).

There’s a case to be made Connor McDavid’s second campaign with the Edmonton Oilers has been as good and maybe even better than Crosby’s, and it comes down to the way he has generated offence.

McDavid is doing almost all his damage at even strength. His 68 even-strength points lead the NHL and account for an outrageous 72 per cent of his production.

Crosby scored less than half of his 120 points at even strength, generating 61 on the power play.

Most of the highest scoring sophomores in the last 20 years were, not coincidentally, fuelled by power-play production:

1. Crosby: 61 power-play points of 120 (51 per cent of total)

2. Evgeni Malkin: 40 of 106 (38 per cent)

3. Eric Staal: 40 of 100 (40 per cent)

4. Steven Stamkos: 41 of 95 (43 per cent)

5. Alex Ovechkin: 37 of 92 (40 per cent)

McDavid, on pace for about 99 points, has generated just 26 per cent of his offence with the man advantage (24 of 94). McDavid is also producing in an era where there are fewer goals and power plays and better goaltending.

So while it might not top Crosby in pure production as the best second-year season in recent memory, it’s pretty close in quality.

UNLIKELY THREATS

Scoring is up a touch in the NHL. Here are a few goal-scoring threats that might surprise you:

Paul Byron, Montreal: Over the first 200 games of his NHL career, Byron took only 177 shots and scored 28 times. He’s got 22 markers, with the league’s second-highest shooting percentage (23.4).

Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville: The Predators speedster and 114th overall pick of the 2014 draft already has 29 goals in his second full season. The 23-year-old has five shorthanded goals, four on the power play and 20 at even strength. Conor Sheary, Pittsburgh: An unlikely post-season hero for the Stanley Cup champions last spring, the undrafted 24-year-old has scored a career-high 22, all but a pair coming at even strength. Jonathan Marchessault, Florida: Another undrafted product, Marchessault showed potential as a scoring threat in earlier stops but 30 goals is obviously a pleasant surprise. Richard Panik, Chicago: Panik flashed some skill in earlier stops with Tampa and Toronto, but he’s made a leap even the Blackhawks probably didn’t imagine, scoring 22 goals while playing mostly alongside captain Jonathan Toews.