Century Club Grows

Getting an assist in a National Hockey League game is a tough thing to do. Doing it 100 times in a career is a big thing. Doing that in one season is even rarer air. As a matter of fact, as of last night, its only been done by five guys in a season.

Bobby Orr did it once (1970-71). Mario Lemieux did it once (1988-89). Wayne Gretzky did it 11 times. Now we can add two more names to that list. Conor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov.

This is the second time in league history two guys have done it in the same season. Gretzky and Lemieux both did it during the 88-89 season. We haven't had a 100 assist season since Gretzky complied 122 in a season in 1992.

For the two guys that have done it this year it really is something special. McDavid hitting 100 helpers and counting as he has ore more game left. He won't be able to catch Kucherov for the point lead on the year, but what he's done for this Oilers team this year after the slow start that he got off to is pretty impressive. And he helped power Edmonton into a playoff spot when they got off to a very slow start out of the blocks at the beginning of the year.

As for Kucherov, this is monumental. He already broke his own club record for points in a single season in Lightning history. He set the record for most assists by a winger in a season and most points by a Russian born player in NHL history. The only winger that ever had more points in a season in league history was Jaromir Jagr with 149 in 1996.

Kucherov has been carrying the Lightning for stretches this season and is a massive reason why they're a playoff team. With what these two guys have done and what Nathan MacKinnon is doing in Colorado, it going to make for one hell of a race for MVP at the end of the season.