When it’s all said and done, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid will likely be remembered as this generation’s premier hockey player.
His resume, even though it is missing a Stanley Cup, speaks for itself: three Hart Memorial Trophies, five Art Ross Trophies, four Ted Lindsay Awards, seven NHL All-Star Games (including six captaincies at said games) and five appearances on the NHL First All-Star Team at the end of the season. McDavid also has the numbers to back it up, as he has averaged more than one point per game across both regular-season and postseason play.
But McDavid is heading into the final year of an eight-year, $100 million contract extension he signed as a 22-year-old in 2017. Now 28, the Oilers’ superstar will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2025-26 season if he does not sign another extension.
Speculation surrounding contract talks between McDavid and the Oilers have become one of the league’s major storylines this summer. On Tuesday, NHL insider Frank Seravalli shared the latest intel involving McDavid’s contract situation that he gathered from sources.
While no concrete offers have been put on the table yet, Seravalli said it is not worth speculating a potential McDavid departure from Edmonton at this time.
“It’s been a very busy social summer for Connor McDavid, as everyone saw on social media, overseas in Europe at best friend Leon Draisaitl’s wedding… Yet, Connor McDavid does not have a contract extension to stay with the Edmonton Oilers,” Seravalli said during a Bleacher Report Open Ice livestream. “Should people be nervous? Well, my understanding is that numbers haven’t even been exchanged yet. They’re still very early on in the process.
“Yet, there doesn’t seem to be any hint of nerves, or panic, or fear, from either the Edmonton Oilers’ side, as best I can tell, and also the McDavid side,” Seravalli continued. “I’d expect in relatively short order here — whether it’s in the next week or two — that that process will begin to ramp up.”
Seravalli later said that the target date for a contract extension will ultimately be on McDavid’s terms.
“The minute that Connor McDavid picks his head up off the pillow and decides he would like to have a contract extension done, that’s the day that it’ll happen,” Seravalli said. “It could be that quick.”
