Connor McDavid speaks during Hockey Canada’s 2025 National Teams Orientation Camp on August 27, 2025, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Leah Hennel/Getty Images)
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With the calendar set to flip to September and the NHL’s 2025 training camps set to open in less than three weeks, Edmonton Oilers fans are still waiting to exhale following the news that Connor McDavid has put pen to paper on a contract extension.
McDavid became eligible to ink a new deal on July 1, but reiterated last week that he’s still taking his time when he spoke to the media at Hockey Canada’s national teams orientation camp in Calgary.
“I said at the end of June, I had every intention just to take my time with it,” McDavid said. “I still feel the same way — take my time and and go through everything.”
He didn’t get specific about what exactly ‘everything’ entails, but with the NHL’s salary cap spiking significantly over the next three seasons, he and his agent Judd Moldaver are navigating a different landscape than what has come before.
But while McDavid did not give up any bargaining leverage by suggesting that he’s eager to get his new contract finished before camp opens, he did still emphasize his commitment to the Oilers.
“I have every intention to to win in Edmonton,” he said. “That’s my only focus — maybe next to winning the gold medal with Canada.”
If past precedents do influence McDavid’s next deal, the visual of him sitting between Sam Reinhart and Sidney Crosby at last Wednesday’s presser should offer some comfort to Oilers fans.
As Reinhart approached unrestricted free agency in 2024, he went down to the wire before agreeing to a team-friendly eight-year contract worth $69 million on June 30, mere hours before the free-agency period opened. And while Crosby became eligible to sign his extension on July 1, 2024, he didn’t commit to his new deal until the eve of training camp. On Sept. 16, the 37-year-old committed to two more years with the Pittsburgh Penguins at another team-friendly rate, the same $8.7 million cap hit he’d been earning since he was a 21-year-old in 2008-09.
Oilers fans haven’t been through this before with McDavid. Two years into his career but already with a scoring title and Hart Trophy in hand, the 20-year-old signed his current deal just five days into his extension-eligibility period on July 5, 2017.
That contract was overseen by his then-agent, Jeff Jackson, who’s now the Oilers’ CEO and president of hockey. And on top of having gotten oh-so-close to realizing the dream of bringing the Stanley Cup to Edmonton with trips to the last two Finals, McDavid has other ties that bond him strongly to the city.
His best friend, Leon Draisaitl, is locked in for the next eight years. And his wife Lauren has opened a brick-and-mortar bar in Edmonton and collaborated closely with the Oilers on her clothing line, Sports Club Atelier.
In the NHL, top players generally lean more toward re-signing with their current teams than to exploring new situations, but that rule of thumb has been tested more than usual over the last year.
On the last year of his current deal, McDavid goes into 2025-26 with the fourth-highest cap hit of any NHL player, at $12.5 million.
Here’s a look at the top 10 cap hits for 2025-26 for players who signed their current deals as impending UFAs, and when they got their deals done. Data is from PuckPedia.
- Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton Oilers
Cap hit: $14 million
Contract status: Year 1 of 8 – extension
Signing date: Sept. 3, 2024 - Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs
Cap hit: $13.25 million
Contract status: Year 2 of 4 – extension
Signing date: Aug. 23, 2023 - Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche
Cap hit: $12.6 million
Contract status: Year 3 of 8 – extension
Signing date: Sept. 20, 2022 - Mitch Marner – Vegas Golden Knights
Cap hit: $12 million
Contract status: Year 1 of 8 – sign and trade with Toronto Maple Leafs
Signing date: June 30, 2025 - Mikko Rantanen – Dallas Stars
Cap hit: $12 million
Contract status: Year 1 of 8 – extension signed after trades from Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes
Signing date: March 7, 2025 - Artemi Panarin – New York Rangers
Cap hit: $11.64 million
Contract status: Year 7 of 7 – signed as free agent from Columbus Blue Jackets
Signing date: July 1, 2019 - Erik Karlsson – Pittsburgh Penguins
Cap hit: $11.5 million
Contract status: Year 7 of 8 – extension signed with San Jose Sharks after trade from Ottawa Senators on Sept. 13, 2018; traded to Penguins on Aug. 6, 2023
Signing date: June 17, 2019 - William Nylander – Toronto Maple Leafs
Cap hit: $11.5 million
Contract status: Year 2 of 8 – extension
Signing date: Jan. 8, 2024 - David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins
Cap hit: $11.25 million
Contract status: Year 3 of 8 – extension
Signing date: Mar. 2, 2023 - Drew Doughty – Los Angeles Kings
Cap hit: $11 million
Contract status: Year 7 of 8 – extension
Signing date: July 1, 2018
Looking at MacKinnon, Nylander and Pastrnak, there is recent precedent for players to sign big deals near training camp or even during the season. But in 2024-25, it was highly unusual to see two high-caliber pending UFAs, Marner and Rantanen, change teams, although the circumstances surrounding both moves were very different.
McDavid is now represented by the same agent who oversaw Matthews’ four-year deal, which was designed to deliver him another big payday down the road, while he’s still in his prime. It’s not out of the question that McDavid could also end up committing for a shorter term, then signing again when the cap ceiling is much higher in a few years’ time.
And while McDavid said last week that he didn’t have a preference for when his contract gets done, that came with a caveat as he looked ahead to the opening of traning camp. “I want the group to be as focused and dialed-in and ready to roll come day one as possible,” he said. “We don’t need any distractions.”
The best way to squlech the distractions in Oil Country is to commit to his next contract before camp opens. But at least one observer believes that’s not going to happen.
On the 100% Hockey podcast on Aug. 28, longtime NHL insider John Shannon said he believes McDavid’s new deal is not imminent.
“It’s not going to be announced in training camp. He’s going to go into the regular season without a new contract,” Shannon said. “I think he’s in a position to manage the situation and make sure that the club is in the right frame of mind for him… As long as Connor can weather the storm of answering questions and he’ll manage that in camp, then take your time and do it right and make sure that everybody’s on the same page. Because quite frankly the negotiations haven’t really started yet.”
Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers will kick off their pre-season with a pair of split-squad games against the Calgary Flames on Sun. Sept 21. They’ll also host the Flames for their regular-season opener on Wed., Oct. 8.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolschram/2025/08/31/will-connor-mcdavid-forge-a-new-path-with-his-next-nhl-contract/
