Oilers star McDavid unanimous winner of NHL's MVP award

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid became just the second unanimous MVP in the 97-year history of the NHL award.

McDavid received each of the 100 first-place votes to join Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky (1981-82) as the only other unanimous winner of the Hart Trophy.

Oilers star McDavid beat Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) and Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) to his second MVP honour after being crowned the league's best in 2017.

McDavid posted a league-best 105 points (33 goals and 72 assists) – 21 more than next-closest player and team-mate Leon Draisaitl as the Oilers reached the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

The 24-year-old also topped the NHL for assists, power-play assists (28) and power-play points (37), while he recorded a league-leading 1.88 points per game – the most by a player since 1995-96.

"My team-mates are everything," McDavid said. "I really wouldn't be anywhere without them. … We had a special group this year, and obviously we didn't do what we wanted to do, but still so fun to be a part of and get Edmonton and the fans of Edmonton excited again for what's to come.

"Obviously not possible without [my team-mates] and so lucky to be part of a great group."

McDavid become the fifth player in NHL history to claim the award multiple times before his 25th birthday (age as of final day of regular season), after Gretzky (six), Bobby Orr (three), Gordie Howe (two) and Alex Ovechkin (two).

"Our team is just getting better as we go along here," added McDavid, who also won the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player in voting by the NHL Players' Association.

"We just had so many guys take the next step and I'm just a part of that. Obviously if we're all continuing to do that, we're going to go and do some special things in this league."

The Oilers are the first team with different Hart Trophy winners in consecutive seasons since the Boston Bruins in 1968-69 (Phil Esposito) and 1969-70 (Bobby Orr).

Meanwhile, Ryan Nugent-Hopkin signed an eight-year contract extension with the Oilers on Tuesday.