Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl scored his league-leading 21st goal of the season on Thursday night, giving his team an early 1-0 lead against the Minnesota Wild.
It was a big goal not only because it helped Draisaitl extend his league lead, but also because it was assisted by Edmonton’s other star forward, Connor McDavid.
That is noteworthy because it is the 200th time that McDavid has assisted on one of Draisaitl’s goal, putting the duo into some pretty exclusive company.
They are only the seventh set of teammates where one player has factored into at least 200 goals for the other.
The others are Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri (who also spent significant time together with Edmonton as well as the Los Angeles Kings), Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier (New York Islanders), Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks), Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals), and Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio (Detroit Red Wings).
Bossy and Trottier actually appear on that list twice, with Bossy setting up 203 of Trottier’s goals, and Trottier setting up 310 of Bossy’s goals.
Here are the full rankings at the top of the list.
Draisaitl’s goal on Thursday was the 368th of his career, meaning McDavid has factored into 54% of his total goals in the NHL.
McDavid and Draisaitl have been teammates since the start of the 2015-16 season and been one of the best duos in the league. They have turned the Oilers into a contender and were the biggest reason they reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final a season ago.