The clock is ticking on the Connor McDavid contract. He is widely conceded to be the best player in the National Hockey League. He receives challenges from Nathan MacKinnon, teammate Leon Draisaitl and defenseman Cale Makar, but it is clearly McDavid who is the most talented player in the NHL.
He has the credentials to prove it. McDavid has played 10 years for the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL and he has scored 361 goals and 721 assists. He has totaled 1,082 points in a decade of NHL play, meaning he is averaging 108.2 points per season. His best year came in 2022-23 when he scored an incredible 64 goals with 89 assists for 153 points.
McDavid and his Oiler teammates lost the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row to the Florida Panthers. This year’s loss in six games is bound to stick with McDavid for the majority of the summer. He and his teammates are desperate to come out on the right side of a Stanley Cup battle. After all, he is the best player in the game.
Connor McDavid is entering the final year of an 8-year deal that pays him $100 million. If he does not sign a new deal before the end of the 2025-26, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman will know that the best player in the world has opted for free agency under his watch.
Bowman desperately wants to avoid McDavid free agency
If the best player in the world opts for free agency and signs a new deal with a team besides the Oilers, it will be a disaster for Bowman. The former boss of the Chicago Blackhawks will try to play it cool, but there is no future for a general manager who loses the brightest star in the galaxy.
“Certainly we’re eager to meet with him whenever he wants, but also understanding that he just went through a very tough ending to the season,” Bowman said Friday. “Timing-wise, Connor’s gonna drive that process, but there’s no question, he’s a pivotal player on our team, and not just what he does on the ice, but his leadership.”
Bowman went on to say what a fantastic leader and teammate McDavid is, pointing out how effective he is off the ice.
But that has nothing to do with it. McDavid can make any choice he wants, and after earning $12.5 million per year for eight seasons, he can choose how much he wants to earn and which team he wants to earn it from.
After getting to the Finals two years in a row and losing, there are no guarantees it will be the Oilers. Bowman knows this, and he may have a slew of sleepless nights as he contemplates his future.
