![[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 18, 2026; Milan, Italy; Nathan MacKinnon of Canada in action with Radim Simek and Lukas Dostal of Czech Republic in a men's ice hockey quarterfinal during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_168,w_4304,h_2421/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/108/01khydpna2dpe46nz0y9.jpg "[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 18, 2026; Milan, Italy; Nathan MacKinnon of Canada in action with Radim Simek and Lukas Dostal of Czech Republic in a men's ice hockey quarterfinal during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Imagn Images")
Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon has already built a strong career. He surpassed the great Joe Sakic for most points in Avalanche history—not considering Sakic’s time with the organization when it resided in Quebec as the Nordiques.
He’s got one Hart trophy and still has a chance to increase his totals to potentially earn a second this season. He’s seven points shy of his fourth-consecutive 100-point season, with 27 games remaining. Pending something catastrophic happening, he should surpass the 100-point total by a long margin.
MacKinnon is on the verge of winning a gold medal at the 2026 Olympics with Team Canada. Canada defeated Finland by a score of 3-2, and MacKinnon contributed with the game-winning goal with just 36 seconds remaining in the game. It’s those types of goals that absolutely put a dagger in the hearts of the opposing team.
MacKinnon has 74 NHL regular season game-winning goals in his career. He is widely regarded as a top player in the entire NHL. Some will argue for him. Others will argue that Connor McDavid is the better player. My argument? Check out the Stanley Cups each player has.
That number is one, as McDavid has not been able to lead the Oilers to a Stanley Cup Final win.
MacKinnon was also named as an alternate captain following the very unfortunate injury to Team Canada’s captain Sidney Crosby, who missed Friday’s game. He doesn’t really seem like the type of player who wants that responsibility, as he isn’t even an alternate captain on the Avalanche, but it just speaks volumes to what Canada head coach Jon Cooper and the players think of #29.
He is 67th all-time in career points with 1,233–and just shy of entering the top-100 all-time in terms of regular season goals with 407. He is 67th in terms of assists with 701. MacKinnon also has 110 power play goals. That number would likely be a lot higher if this year’s Avalanche team’s power play was significantly better than it is. However, the Avs could look at the current power play and decide to yank MacKinnon off of it.
If MacKinnon and Team Canada win against whoever comes out as the winner in the USA-Slovakia game. With the USA up 4-0 after two periods, it will likely end with a Team Slovakia loss, resulting in a Canada-USA matchup.
If he has a strong game, the Olympics could play a big part in the talks about him being an all-time great.