“If you’re interested, you’ll do what is convenient. If you’re committed, you’ll do whatever it takes.”
– John Assaraf“I got love for my homies that are rollin’ with me.”
– Nate Dogg
Coming into his tenth season with the Colorado Avalanche, you had to wonder what Nathan MacKinnon’s game plan was for navigating his first campaign without his partner in crime, Gabe Landeskog. While Alternate Captain “Nate Dogg” has been one of the team’s greatest assets since the day he walked in the door, he’d almost always shared the line and limelight with Captain Landy.
So with Landeskog sidelined for what amounted to the entire 2022-23 regular season, the weight of an increased scoring burden fell squarely on MacKinnon’s shoulders. With that, and in the face of an up and down year, Nate mounted one of the strongest campaigns of his career, taking a moment to punctuate the end of Wednesday night’s Avs game in a few different ways…
With his overtime goal punching the Avs ticket to a win against San Jose, MacKinnon also officially earned the Avs a spot in the postseason, where their recently-fearsome forecheck seems to be rounding back into playoff force.
Oh yeah, and he also just so happened to notch his 100th point of the season with the score as well.
Putting that into context, MacKinnon’s achievement with six games left in the season already means he’ll have one of the top 300 point-scoring seasons in NHL history, and still not even one of the top-ten (yet) with the Avalanche. And yet, what MacKinnon has achieved for himself and his team this year has been nothing short of remarkable. In seasons past, even when playing all 82 games, Nate has never cracked the 100-point marker, with his closest campaign coming in 2018-19, with 99 goals scored in 82 games played.
This year, MacKinnon has been on a conquest, racking up those 100 points in 65 games played. Extrapolate that out across an 82 game season, and he’s playing at 126-point pace. That incredible output comes from many places, not just his propensity for putting the puck in the net, where his 36 goals on the season are already his third-highest career total.
Where MacKinnon’s output has particularly shone is when he is sharing. His assists total thus far on the season (64) is six better than his three-time career best (58), and his per-game assist rate is also running at a scorching career high (.98/game). MacK took the team on his shoulders with all the defending championship injuries and changes, and now has his team in position to not only get into the postseason (check), but maybe even still take their division.
To get to this point, MacKinnon went on a couple of ridiculous point streaks over the season, displaying not only his fire and strength, but ridiculous consistency. While he joked about getting “fat as sh–” over the offseason after winning the cup, his approach to this year, even in the face of playing the regular season without their captain and his buddy, was meticulous and explosive.
Cale Makar is looking like his dangerous self. Landy looks to be back for the playoffs, and has been skating for a month and a half. Role players galore are suddenly making the nitty gritty plays that make the differences in big games.
And Nate Dogg, as he reportedly enjoys being called? Mr. MacKinnon to those whose doors he has blown off? He’s simply been buoying the whole thing up all season long, and looks to be as great as he’s ever been.
The boys are back in town, and Nathan MacKinnon scratched, scored, and clawed his way in getting them there by doing whatever it takes.
