Speculation: Elephant in the room: Is McDavid going to be the biggest UFA ever in 2026?

[innitfam]

Gonna love reading the salt posts when he signs 8 yrs in edmonton

Prob wins 3-5 cups here in that time

Lol 5 cups in 8 years, with this level of league-wide parity? Sure.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I can see him going out west to Vancouver. Then the Canucks could rock:

Miller Pettersson Brock Boeser
Debrusk McDavid Lekkermaki
Garland Joshua Sherwood
Raty Sutter Hoglander

 

[Kimota]

Mcdavid is already signed on for his career in Edmonton. It's going to be 15 million per x 8 years. Then we will never have to discuss Mcdavid to Toronto or any other tam.
Only discussions in fantasy boards

Wherever he goes, he is getting 20.

 

[HFpapi]

I'm betting McDavid and Draisaitl came to an agreement with the organization at the same time but McDavid just isn't eligible to actually sign it yet.

Zero, absolutely zero, chance Drai signed his deal without it being in coordination with McDavid. I feel like they were always going to either re-sign together and see this through or both leave.

I bet McDavid signs almost immediately in the new year and puts any speculation to bed. The Draisaitl signing was a package deal.

 

[HFpapi]

I can see him going out west to Vancouver. Then the Canucks could rock:

Miller Pettersson Brock Boeser
Debrusk McDavid Lekkermaki
Garland Joshua Sherwood
Raty Sutter Hoglander

Yeah I've always said Connor McDavid is better suited as a high-end #2 center rather than a true #1. Would be good to have EP shelter him.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Winning a cup matters a lot to him apparently, that's all he has left to play for. He's done everything else. If he senses the team is going backwards he might not commit again. The one team legacy thing only matters if you've won there.

 

[hangman005]

The man has a heated driveway. I could never walk away from that.

Could you drive?

Anyways he's signing with Vegas one year, league minimum and he can have a cooling driveway at his house.

 

[TheDoldrums]

PS - he’d be mad to go to Toronto, just think of the pressure he’d be under. There’s more important things in life.

He’s under immense pressure regardless. This is a guy challenging to be the best of all time. He will never be accepted as that with no titles. His legacy depends on winning and he knows that.

Is he willing to put that faith in the Oilers to help him get there? I dunno. They got close last year but that was with McDavid playing like a god. If he played that way on a team like say Dallas, he’s already a champion. Maybe he’s tired of having inconsistent goaltending every year. Or maybe loyalty will win out over reason.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Where does his wife want to live?

 

[ShootIt]

IMO if Edmonton can make the finals again or the WCF I think he re-signs in 2025 as soon as possible.

If it's an early exit, I could see him wanting to see how 25-26 goes before re-signing.

I think he wants to win in Edmonton, but if the near and future looks bleakish, could see him wanting to explore his options.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Serious question, what can the Oilers do to make McDavid think they are winning over his next 8 years? When he signed his first 8 years he had Nurse, Drai, and tons of draft picks coming up.

Today they have no future at all (non existent prospects) and the core of their team outside of McDavid and Drai are mid 30's.

What could the Oilers possibly do to extend the window 8 years? He would need to be confident the Oilers are about to win basically in the first year or two

 

[HockeyVirus]

The odds of McDavid going to Free Agency are about as high as the Leafs odds of winning the cup this season.

He has the attitude and personality of plain white rice, just don’t think he has it in him to put himself in the spotlight like that.

Read the same exact comments about Tavares. Reminder

 

[JianYang]

I'd be shocked if draisaitl didn't already talk to mcdavid about his plans prior to signing his extension.

When I saw draisaitl commit, I took it as a given that mcdavid plans to do the same.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

31 other teams would be willing to pay him 7x$LeagueMax. He has will have $250M+ in the bank from hockey, no matter what. So the "Taking Care of his family" part is not really relevant.

Winning? Edmonton shouldn't only count on writing him a blank check. He has the $$$ no matter what. Find out what he thinks will take the Oilers over the top, and spare no expense to make it happen. If that means paying to dump bad contracts, trading to get a better goalie, or a #1D, whatever it is, you figure out a way to do that. And maybe if you can really do that to his satisfaction he'll even be willing to contribute a bit back on the $LeagueMax Cap hit. But you have to make those other moves happen for him, top priority.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Serious question, what can the Oilers do to make McDavid think they are winning over his next 8 years? When he signed his first 8 years he had Nurse, Drai, and tons of draft picks coming up.

Today they have no future at all (non existent prospects) and the core of their team outside of McDavid and Drai are mid 30's.

What could the Oilers possibly do to extend the window 8 years? He would need to be confident the Oilers are about to win basically in the first year or two

continue doing what they're doing, namely "going for it" every single season...they were 2 goals away from the Cup last year FFS
they have the most series wins in the Western Conference the past 3 seasons

and as long as McDavid and Draisaitl are here, they'll be competitive and players will want to play with them....especially with the Cap going exponentially up the next few seasons

If he doesn't win this season or next then serious question why the f*** would he stay? Are the Oilers going to guarantee jobs for every extended cousin? Make his brother head mascot? Give his dad one of those skyscrapers the city built Katz? Guarantee a 100ft tall golden statue?

He's going to make great money wherever, and is guaranteed more advertising deals if he signs in a big market like NY or Toronto.

lmao, I'm sure a charismatic guy like Connor McDavid gives a shit about "advertising deals"

just another wishful thinking post

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

All jokes aside, what makes you think he’ll stay? His best friend Leon? An 8th year?

he said he's "all about winning" and the Oilers were 2 goals away from winning it all....why would he leave to go somewhere that's not as close as the Oilers were?

 

[banks]

Even if the odds of him leaving are slim, it's definitely worth discussing. I, for one, think he'll drop Edmonton like a brick if they don't win a Cup by the time his contract is up.

He'll be a Cup winner with Edmonton, or he'll leave for NYR or TOR.

 

[Suntouchable13]

31 other teams would be willing to pay him 7x$LeagueMax. He has will have $250M+ in the bank from hockey, no matter what. So the "Taking Care of his family" part is not really relevant.

Winning? Edmonton shouldn't only count on writing him a blank check. He has the $$$ no matter what. Find out what he thinks will take the Oilers over the top, and spare no expense to make it happen. If that means paying to dump bad contracts, trading to get a better goalie, or a #1D, whatever it is, you figure out a way to do that. And maybe if you can really do that to his satisfaction he'll even be willing to contribute a bit back on the $LeagueMax Cap hit. But you have to make those other moves happen for him, top priority.

What he thinks? LOL, they signed Nurse to that idiotic contract literally because he is friends with McDavid and he wanted him on the team. The last thing they should do is what he thinks.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

he said he's "all about winning" and the Oilers were 2 goals away from winning it all....why would he leave to go somewhere that's not as close as the Oilers were?

Well he dragged them there. And his supporting cast is getting older and will decline soon. Ekholm (34), Nuge (31), Kane (33), Hyman (32), are all not far from falling off hard.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Well he dragged them there. And his supporting cast is getting older and will decline soon. Ekholm (34), Nuge (31), Kane (33), Hyman (32), are all not far from falling off hard.

Ekholm and Kane are UFA's in 2026, when McDavid's new contract starts...and Nuge and Hyman's contracts aren't crippling either in their length and size (both still productive and I'd re-sign Ekholm on a short-term deal)
they'll have some cap space to replace players

 

[TheDoldrums]

he said he's "all about winning" and the Oilers were 2 goals away from winning it all....why would he leave to go somewhere that's not as close as the Oilers were?

do you think the Oilers with McDavid are closer to winning than Dallas with McDavid, for example?

Of course the Oilers were close, they had McDavid. You're comparing them to teams that don't have him, but there's a lot of teams that would likely be better than Edmonton if he ended up choosing them.

 

[tfwnogf]

if he wants to win so bad take a discount.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Read the same exact comments about Tavares. Reminder

Now do the 90 players where it didn’t happen

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

What he thinks? LOL, they signed Nurse to that idiotic contract literally because he is friends with McDavid and he wanted him on the team. The last thing they should do is what he thinks.

If that's the case, then if the alternative is "let him walk as a UFA", which door would you rather take?

 

[NVious]

He did his time, he served Edmonton well, but it's time to #ComeHome.

#GOLeafsGO #WeBleedBlue #WelcomeHomeConnor