The internet post that sparked this story was short. A screenshot of the scoring leaders table showed Connor McDavid sitting at 21 points in 15 games, 1 clear of Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Scheifele, with Jack Eichel and Nick Suzuki just behind. It came a couple of weeks after loud talk about a slump. A fan said, “Dude has been waiting weeks to post this,” and people laughed because it was true. The same crowd that had worried out loud about decline now had to look at the numbers that made the panic look very small.
What His “Terrible Start” Actually Looked Like
If you want to understand the overreaction, you have to put concrete numbers on it. Through his first 8 games McDavid had 1 goal and 7 assists for 8 points. That is a flat 1 point per game. For any normal star, that is fine. For someone who has made 120-point seasons feel routine, it felt jarring. He went 7 games before his first goal, the longest goal drought to open a season in his career. Headlines spoke of a Connor McDavid terrible start to 2025-26, even while he quietly led Edmonton in points.
By game 14 the picture was already shifting. Stat lines showed 3 goals and 16 assists for 19 points in those first 14 outings. That works out to about 1.35 points per night while he was supposedly still not himself, during the much-discussed Connor McDavid terrible start 2025-26. You could scroll his game log and see the shape of it. A run of nights where the puck would not go in, then a first goal, then a wave of multi-assist games. The production was never bad. It was just below the wild bar he set for his own name.
On the internet, some fans admitted they had talked themselves into drama. A fan said, “We saw 0 goals in 7 and lost our minds.” Another fan commented, “People forgot he was still at a point per game without scoring.” That is the core of it. The panic came from people grading him against peak McDavid rather than the rest of the league. The numbers show a dip. They do not show a crisis.
“Worst thing that ever happened to this guy was scoring 150 points, now that is the bar forever.” A fan said this while looking back at the rush to call it decline.
The Surge That Turned Panic into A Punchline
The screenshot that went viral told the other half of the story. From game 9 through game 15, McDavid stacked 13 points. That stretch pushed him to 4 goals and 17 assists for 21 points overall, back tied or alone at the top of the scoring race. It was not a random heater. It looked like a familiar shift in pace. More clean entries. More east-west plays that froze defenders. Power play touches where he slowed time, waited for a seam, and found it. This turnaround was the opposite of the Connor McDavid terrible start narrative we’ve seen before.
A fan said, “They do this every year,” meaning the cycle where a modest October becomes a November climb into first place on the leaderboard. Another fan commented, “Even his slump needs context, because his bad weeks would make other guys rich.” The internet thread stopped arguing about whether he had lost a step and started arguing about whether everyone should stop judging him by human rules.
At the same time, the talk around Edmonton stayed honest. Some replies used the chart to dunk on early hot takes. Others came back to the same worry. It is not about whether McDavid can fix his stat line. He clearly can. It is about whether the team can match it. A fan said, “He will drag them into the playoffs again, the question is if anyone helps when it matters.” That tension hangs over every surge. His ability to erase a slow start, even a Connor McDavid terrible start 2025-26, is now expected. Depth scoring and defensive detail are not.
So the updated table does more than clap back at a meme. It proves that the fear never matched the facts. It also shows how strange the standard is around him. An 8-point in 8 game opening with no goals once felt like a reason to panic. Two weeks later he used a 13-point burst to sit where he usually sits, near the top, with everyone else chasing. If nothing else, those hard numbers should remind people of one simple thing. When Connor McDavid has a quiet week, you can take a breath. Chances are he is just loading up for the next sprint.
I bounce between stadium seats and window seats, chasing games and new places. Sports fuel my heart, travel clears my head, and every trip ends with a story worth sharing.
