Connor McDavid Graciously Gives Edmonton 3 More Years To Figure It Out, Signs A 2-Year Extension The Oilers
Andy Devlin. Getty Images.Connor McDavid was extremely careful with his words this offseason. He mentioned plenty of times how much he was going to weigh all of his potential options about becoming a free agent at the end of the 2025-26 season. He mentioned plenty of times how he has every "intention of winning" in Edmonton, but that doesn't meant that he is willing to sign the rest of his career away to the Oilers. We just saw Kirill Kaprizov sign an 8-year, $17M AAV extension with the Minnesota Wild last week. If that's the type of money that he's getting, then there has to be teams out there willing to give McDavid $20+ million per year to play for them.
But Connor McDavid is a hockey player. Loyalty means something to these guys. He's not just going to follow the dollar signs wherever he can get paid the highest. At least not yet. He's going to give the Oilers 2 more years, after this season, to get the job done.
A 2-year extension at $12.5M AAV. He doesn't completely break the bank for Edmonton, so this allows them to still keep building a Cup contending team around him. They just lost in the Cup Final in back-to-back seasons. So if they aren't able to win one in the next 3 years, then clearly that window is shut. So if the Oilers are able to finally get over that hump and win a Cup? Then there's a good chance Connor McDavid's next contract will be the final one he signs, and he'll spend his entire career with the Oilers.
But if they get bounced in the Western Conference Finals over the next couple of seasons? Then Connor McDavid has been as patient as he possibly could be, gave Edmonton every opportunity to build a team around him, but then he could finally move on in peace. The Oilers pretty much have 2.5 seasons right now to make it work, or else you can't blame the guy for taking off. And who knows where the salary cap will be at that point.
Obviously it sucks as a hockey fan to have to wait another couple of years for McDavid to hopefully be on the move. It starts to feel like a superstar player will never actually make it to free agency ever again. But it's been a while since we've seen a player give a team an actual deadline like this. 3 more seasons, out of the kindness of Connor McDavid's heart, to win a Cup or else he has to go somewhere else. It's a classy move by McDavid, and it should light the world's hottest fire under everybody's ass in the Oilers organization. You have about 900 days to win a Stanley Cup, and the clock starts ticking down right now.