Connor McDavid didn’t leave the Edmonton Oilers hanging last summer. He could have pushed for anything he wanted when he entered the final year of his eight-year deal, and the organization would have been ready to hand it over.
Instead, he took a two-year extension at the same $12.5-million cap hit he had carried on the deal that once set the standard in the NHL. That number has since been surpassed - seven players will have higher cap hits than McDavid next season - but the point of his decision was impossible to miss. He wanted a path to a Stanley Cup in Edmonton, and he wanted to make life easier for the team building around him.
Now the clock is already ticking again. By next summer, McDavid will be eligible to sign another extension with the Oilers, and the pressure is on the organization to make sure he does not reach the open market. That leaves the big question hanging over Edmonton: is winning a Stanley Cup the only way he signs on for the long haul?
There’s an obvious case that a championship would settle everything. McDavid has said over and over that he wants to win a Stanley Cup, and lifting Lord Stanley’s Mug would almost certainly keep him in Edmonton for the long term.
But the picture gets murkier if the Oilers come up short. The general belief has been that McDavid will stay as long as the team remains competitive.
A season like last year won’t be enough, and if the next two playoff runs end quickly, it becomes hard to imagine him wanting to stick around. That’s especially true after he accepted less money so the Oilers could try to win with him.
If Edmonton can keep making deep runs, though, that may be enough to keep him in place. That would likely mean the front office keeps spending to improve now, whether that means using cap space or moving picks and prospects for NHL help.
Mike Babcock’s hiring could matter here as well. McDavid and the other Oilers leaders backed that move, and it raises the question of whether there’s a sense of loyalty attached to the coach. The length of Babcock’s contract is unknown, but if it runs three years or longer, that could matter too.
For my money, it still feels like Cup or bust, McDavid will be an Oiler for life. Earlier this year, he addressed legacy directly and made his priorities plain:
“I’m 11 years into my career. Of course I think about my legacy.
I want to be remembered as a winner. But not just anywhere.
Here. To be in this city during a Cup run, to feel that buzz … it just wouldn’t be the same somewhere else.”
Whether he ends up with one Cup or more, McDavid has a chance to do something none of the other Oilers stars from the glory years managed: finish his career in Edmonton.
In Other News...
Oilers Face A Tough Spencer Stastney Decision On Defense
Spencer Stastney spent much of last season filling in as a useful stopgap on the Edmonton blue line, stepping into a bigger role when Brett Kulak was out and getting into 66 games along the way. He also signed a one-year contract extension in July, a move that reflected his value as a depth defenseman who could be trusted when injuries thinned out the lineup.
Since the Oilers got healthier, though, Stastneys role has been squeezed, which is the sort of depth-chart reality that can force a team to make uncomfortable decisions. Edmonton has enough defensive depth to at least consider whether keeping a player in that spot is the best use of the asset, and the idea of moving him for a draft pick has surfaced as the kind of option that would help the organization balance now versus later. [Read more 🡒]
McDavid Superteam Buzz Will Hit Oilers Fans Right In The Gut
With Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews both two years away from free agency in 2028, the NHLs rumor mill has started to wander into territory that naturally grabs attention in Edmonton. The idea of two franchise centers, two captains and two of the leagues biggest names eventually landing on the same roster has been floated in recent chatter, and it is the kind of speculation that immediately lands with extra force for Oilers fans.
Fueling the conversation is the fact that McDavid and Matthews share the same agent, which only makes the hypothetical feel a little more plausible on the surface. Still, for now it remains exactly that, a hypothetical, with no confirmed plans on either side. Even so, once the superteam idea is out there, it is the sort of thing that is hard for an Oilers crowd to simply shrug off. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Just Saw Another Offseason Staff Change Take Shape
The Oilers offseason staff picture took another turn this week as the coaching carousel kept moving across the hockey map. Around the league, Quinn Hughes is still unsigned but expects to work toward an extension with Minnesota as market shifts continue to shape the timing and price, Shane Smith landed a one-year deal with Henderson in the AHL, and Samu Tuomaala moved on to Linkoping in Sweden after Dallas decided not to tender him a contract.
For Edmonton, the most relevant development is on the bench, where Ryan Marsh will not be part of the organization going forward after taking an assistant coaching job with Shanghai in the KHL. It is another reminder that the Oilers summer is not only about roster questions, but also about how much turnover they will have around the team behind the scenes before training camp gets underway. [Read more 🡒]