With 653 games played to date, the 2021-22 regular season will eclipse the halfway mark Wednesday, Jan. 26.
QUICK HITS
* The Art Ross Trophy race is among the closest the NHL has seen in the modern era (since 1943-44), with only two points separating the top four point-getters ahead of the halfway mark.
* The battle for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy has the five front-runners separated by only six goals, with everyone chasing down leader Chris Kreider who recently reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career.
* Entering the second half of the 2021-22 NHL season, 23 players are on pace to score 40 goals and 10 are tracking toward a 100-point campaign.
* As Alex Ovechkin continues his pursuit of third place on the NHL’s all-time goals list, he has put himself within reach of becoming the oldest player in League history to lead all players in goals and points at the end of a season.
BY THE NUMBERS
289 – Number of U.S.-born players who have played at least one game in 2021-22, three shy of matching the most in one season in NHL history (292 in 2020-21, including playoffs).
128 – Players have made their NHL debut so far in 2021-22 (111 skaters, 17 goaltenders), the fourth-highest total through 653 games in NHL history behind 1979-80 (183), 2005-06 (156) and 1981-82 (131).
91 – Percentage of days this season that either the Panthers (70 days) or Lightning (26 days) have occupied first place in the Atlantic Division standings (96 of 106 days) - including every day since mid-December.
47 – Hat tricks scored so far in 2021-22, tied with 2010-11 for the second-most at this stage of a season (653 GP) over the last 20 campaigns (48 in 2018-19).
43 – Number of times that a team has scored seven or more goals in a game in 2021-22, the most at this stage of a season (653 GP) since 1995-96 (72) and equal to the total in the entire 2020-21 campaign (43 in 868 GP).
36 – Age, in years, of the oldest player in NHL history to lead the League outright in both goals and points at the end of a season. Bill Cook did so in 1932-33 while skating for the Rangers, finishing with 28 goals and 50 points at age 36 years, 165 days as of the final day of the season. Alex Ovechkin (36 years, 224 days on April 29, 2022) is in the running to become the oldest ever to do so.
35 – Goals Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar is on pace to hit in 2021-22. There have been only seven instances of a defenseman scoring 35+ goals in a season, with the most recent being Paul Coffey in 1985-86 (48 w/ EDM) - which stands as the highest single-season total by a defenseman in NHL history.
26 – Years since a team has had three players each with 100+ points in the same season (PIT in 1995-96). Colorado has three players tracking toward triple digits (Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen & Nathan MacKinnon).
23 – Number of players currently on pace for 40+ goals in 2021-22 (min. 20 GP). The last 82-game NHL season (2018-19) saw 13 players reach the mark, and just five years ago only three skaters did so (2016-17).
20 – Players who are currently set to make their NHL All-Star debut in the upcoming 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game, ranging from 20-year-old Jack Hughes to 34-year-old Cam Talbot.
16 – Length of Colorado’s active home winning streak; there have been only four longer such runs in NHL history.
13 – Number of teams in the Western Conference that either occupy a playoff spot or sit within five points of one, with teams outside the bracket holding up to seven games in hand on those inside the playoff picture.
11 – Number of the League’s top 12 point-getters entering the halfway mark who are headed to 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend: Leon Draisaitl (59 PTS), Alex Ovechkin (58), Jonathan Huberdeau (58), Connor McDavid (57), Nazem Kadri (52), Steven Stamkos (50), Kirill Kaprizov (49), Joe Pavelski (48), Johnny Gaudreau (48), Timo Meier (46) and Adam Fox (46).
11 – Number of different teams with a winning streak of 7+ games this season: Pittsburgh (10 GP), Carolina (9 GP), Florida (8 GP), Anaheim (8 GP), Minnesota (8 GP), Los Angeles (7 GP), Dallas (7 GP), NY Rangers (7 GP), Nashville (7 GP), Vancouver (7 GP) and Colorado (7 GP; active).
10 – Players on pace to reach the 100-point mark in 2021-22: Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, Kirill Kaprizov, Johnny Gaudreau, Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand. Only one of the previous 14 seasons (since 2007-08) ended with five or more 100-point scorers (6 in 2018-19).
10 – Go-ahead goals in the final minute of regulation in 2021-22, the highest total at this stage of a season (653 GP) since 2014-15 (12). There have also been 19 tying goals in the final minute in 2021-22.
10 – Length of the road goal streak by Auston Matthews from Nov. 24, 2021 to Jan. 15, 2022, the longest in nearly 28 years and one shy of the NHL record shared by Pavel Bure (11 GP in 1993-94) and Steve Yzerman (11 GP in 1988-89).
8 – Point differential between second place and seventh place in the Pacific Division standings, with seed Nos. 3-7 all holding between one and seven games in hand on the No. 2-ranked Ducks.
7 – Number of goals required by Alex Ovechkin (759) to tie Jaromir Jagr (766) for third place in NHL history and for the most ever by a player born outside North America. At his current rate (0.67 G/GP in 2021-22), Ovechkin is on track to equal Jagr either Feb. 24 (at NYR) or Feb. 26 (at PHI).
6 – Number of different teams to hold first place in the NHL standings since the calendar turned Jan. 1, with Florida (14), Tampa Bay (7), Carolina (1), Colorado (1), NY Rangers (1) and Washington (1) taking turns at No. 1.
5 – Number of players within six goals of the League lead as five NHL All-Stars – Chris Kreider (30), Leon Draisaitl (29), Alex Ovechkin (29), Auston Matthews (25) and Alex DeBrincat (24) – enter the second half of the season as the front-runners for the 2021-22 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.
5 – Points separating the top four teams in the Metropolitan Division, where the Rangers (14 days), Hurricanes (9 days) and Capitals (2 days) have all occupied first place this month. The Penguins, who currently sit one point back of the No. 1-ranked Rangers, last held first place in the division through games of Oct. 20.
3 – Points separating the two highest scoring rookies in 2021-22, Detroit's Lucas Raymond (11-22—33 in 42 GP) and Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras (10-20—30 in 38 GP). Only two of the past seven seasons have seen the two highest-scoring rookies separated by three or fewer points at the halfway mark: 2017-18 (Brock Boeser: 39 points; Mathew Barzal: 37 points) and 2016-17 (Patrik Laine: 37 points; Auston Matthews: 35 points).
2 – Seasons in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) in which the top four point-getters at the halfway mark were separated by two points or fewer, as is the case heading into Wednesday’s action. It happened in 2011-12 when Henrik Sedin (49) was being pursued by Phil Kessel (48), Claude Giroux (48), Joffrey Lupul (47) and Daniel Sedin (47), as well as in 2003-04 when Ilya Kovalchuk (46) was closely followed by Robert Lang (46), Markus Naslund (46) and Pavel Datsyuk (45).
2 – Players who have passed or will pass Doug Jarvis’ mark of 964 consecutive games – Keith Yandle (965 GP) surpassed Jarvis to set a new NHL record Jan. 25, while Phil Kessel (941 GP) sits 24 consecutive appearances shy of surpassing Jarvis for second on the all-time list.
1 – Number of alley-oop style goals in 2021-22 that have garnered millions of views across social platforms.
.763 – Points percentage held by the Avalanche through 40 games played. They are the sixth team in nine seasons to have a rate at least that high at this stage of their season, following the 2018-19 Lightning (.800), 2015-16 Capitals (.788), 2017-18 Lightning (.763), 2013-14 Blues (.763) and 2013-14 Ducks (.763).
0 – Number of players to record 100 points in a season for the Panthers or Wild. Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA; on pace for 110 points) and Kirill Kaprizov (MIN; on pace for 107 points) are tracking toward franchise firsts.
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