{"id":181566,"date":"2025-08-28T04:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181566\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T04:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:52:12","slug":"what-to-make-of-connor-mcdavids-latest-comments-about-his-future-with-the-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181566\/","title":{"rendered":"What to make of Connor McDavid\u2019s latest comments about his future with the Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 Connor McDavid\u2019s words should crackle and pop like a lightning storm on a humid summer night.<\/p>\n

Just three weeks out from the start of Edmonton Oilers training camp, the NHL\u2019s best player arrived at Team Canada\u2019s Olympic orientation camp and told reporters<\/a> Wednesday that he had no preference when it came to the possibility of getting a contract extension in place ahead of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say all options are on the table, really,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Critically, McDavid said he needed more time to evaluate the decision with the potential of unrestricted free agency looming on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

He certainly didn\u2019t sound any further along in his process than he was two months ago when he met the media following the Oilers\u2019 second straight Stanley Cup Final defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers. At that point, the 28-year-old Oilers captain clearly laid out what he needed to see before committing to re-signing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I feel that there\u2019s a good window to win here over and over again, then signing is no problem,\u201d McDavid said in June.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Oilers have re-signed top defenseman Evan Bouchard to a four-year extension and shuffled the deck among the forward group \u2014 adding Andrew Mangiapane, Curtis Lazar and 21-year-old Isaac Howard, while losing Evander Kane, Viktor Arvidsson, Corey Perry and Connor Brown.<\/p>\n

They appear poised to return with the same goaltending tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, both of whom are on expiring contracts of their own.<\/p>\n

Viewed in aggregate, it\u2019s difficult to categorize the series of moves as a clear roster upgrade, and yet there almost seemed to be an outside perception in recent weeks that McDavid would simply follow the lead of teammate Leon Draisaitl from a year ago by signing an extension in early September.<\/p>\n

That could still happen, but it\u2019s far from a certainty given the public posture McDavid adopted at the outset of the Olympic camp. He reiterated his intention to win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton, but he wasn\u2019t prepared to say whether that pursuit would continue beyond the expiry of his existing deal after the upcoming 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

His short-term goals are obvious. Life beyond next summer is not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have every intention to win in Edmonton,\u201d said McDavid. \u201cIt\u2019s my only focus, maybe next to winning the (Olympic) gold medal with Canada. But it is my intention to win there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made those comments while sitting alongside players who already have what he craves most: Sidney Crosby, his one-time idol and a three-time Stanley Cup champion, and Sam Reinhart, who was on the winning side of the past two Finals with Florida.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby speak to the media Wednesday. (Leah Hennel \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

McDavid has left absolutely no stone unturned in his own pursuit of a championship. The word coming out of summer training sessions in suburban Toronto is that he\u2019s been a man possessed. And he\u2019s already established himself as the singular performer among the current generation of NHLers, having racked up eight 100-point regular seasons while leading the playoffs in scoring three of the past four years.<\/p>\n

Arguably the only thing keeping him from a spot on the sport\u2019s Mount Rushmore is a hoisted Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

At 28, he\u2019s still triangulating how best to accomplish that. Finishing the job in Edmonton alongside his close friend and long-time running mate Draisaitl would obviously be ideal. But that dream has to be measured against the reality that the Oilers felt they lost ground to the Panthers between the two Cup losses.<\/p>\n

McDavid is also clearly trying to wrap his mind around the potential ramifications for his teammates if he\u2019s not ready to sign an extension before the season opens Oct. 8 against the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

It would create a seismic story that reverberates well beyond Edmonton. It would be the source of questions, league-wide speculation and endless discussion as possible free agency drew nearer. But would it impede the other professionals McDavid shares a dressing room with from doing their jobs next season?<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the group to be as focused and dialed-in and ready to roll come Day 1 as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, we don\u2019t need any distractions.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not really any precedent for what it might look or feel like if McDavid actually elects to enter his season with no new deal in place. Other superstars have done it \u2014 including Mitch Marner as recently as last season with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs on the way to leveraging a June 30 sign-and-trade to the Vegas Golden Knights \u2014 but no one like McDavid.<\/p>\n

Hockey only has one McJesus.<\/p>\n

And he alone will dictate how this ultimately plays out.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we should all sit up and take notice when McDavid speaks with so little urgency about a contract the Oilers would literally sign at any moment of any day right now. They\u2019d do it for any terms allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, too. If McDavid wants the max \u2014 currently eight years at $19.1 million per season (20 percent of the cap) \u2014 he can get it. So the fact that he\u2019s now openly talking about possibly letting this drift into the season is pretty significant.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I\u2019m taking) my time, going through it with obviously my family, my agent, everybody involved,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cWe\u2019re going through it slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longer this goes, the more interesting it\u2019s going to get.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Leah Hennel \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 Connor McDavid\u2019s words should crackle and pop like a lightning storm on a humid summer night.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":181567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[2997,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-181566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-edmonton-oilers","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115104602177997679","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}