The Athletic Hockey Show - Connor McDavid signs two-year Oilers extension | Instant Reaction

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Connor McDavid is staying with the Edmonton Oilers for the foreseeable future as he’s signed a two-year contract extension with the club worth an annual average value of $12.5 million. The guys react to the news and discuss what it means for No. 97, the Oilers, and the NHL.Hosts: Max Bultman and Mark LazerusWith: Daniel Nugent-BowmanExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris FlanneryWatch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowJoin our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/VTm9VjkFSubscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Hey, everybody, Max Boltman here alongside Mark Lazarus and Daniel Nugent-Bohman. For an emergency episode of The Athletic Hockey Show, Big Day, Daniel, in your neck of the woods. The much-anticipated Connor McDavid extension has landed, and it is an interesting one. It's the exact kind of extension mark that we talked about this morning on the hockey show. It's a short-term deal two years, and Daniel, it's at his exact same A.AV, $12.5 million that he's making right now. Now, in a world where Carill Caprizov is signing for $17 million a year, why does the best player on Earth take a two-year deal at $12.5 million?

Wait, wait, we're not talking about Jake Wellman today? We can do that later. I think that's part of this conversation. Okay, yeah. Well, it kind of is in a way, right? Like, he's taking less to really build this team out or help the management build the team out. Like he has said, been very clear he wants to win in Edmonton. he's got his best buddy Leon Dreis Settled.

Darham Luris is a great friend. They're in his wedding party. You know, Zach Hyman, he wants to win with these guys, but these guys are now 30 plus and the clock is really ticking here. For as good as this team has been, getting to two consecutive cup finals, for as good as they could probably be in these next couple years. The clock, like I said, is ticking.

And he has set this window, right? Like, this is clearly what the window is. It's this year. It's two more. And I think there's going to be a real hard evaluation, even further evaluation by Connor McDavid of what this team is at that point. So it really puts the onus on management

to a lesser extent to coaching staff to help the team get over the hump. This feels really just like he just threw down the gauntlet at Stan Bowman's feet and said, proof you have two years to prove to me you can build a sustained winner or I'm out of here. And the fact that he took, he probably took $7.5 million under market value here.

just a staggering number. And that just gives them all the credibility in the world. Like, look, I'm making it as easy as possible for you to do this, to build a championship team here. But if you can't, if I'm not going to waste my 30s, I'm going to go get a cup somewhere else if I have to. Yeah, and James Myrtle and I did a piece where we, last week where we talked to a bunch of agents.

And this one agent called this exactly as to what McDavid should do. Take a little less, do the Sydney Crosby thing and really try to win now. This is his legacy at stake. And now it's not, you know, Connor McDavid, let's be clear, it's not the reason the Oilers have not won a Stanley Cup to this point. Like, let's be 100% accurate and clear about that. But he wants to, again, he wants to get it done in the place where he was drafted,

where he grew up. You know, all the greats did this. You know, Marilynneux one, Gretzky won, Crosby, even Ovechkin, although it took longer. Eiserman, like these guys won in the place that they were drafted. And I think it'll be a real blight. on his legacy when it's all sudden done if he doesn't get it done here. But, I mean, there's only so much he can do.

I mean, if three years have gone by, including this one, and he has not won a Stanley Cup, you know, he's going to be a 32, I believe, at that point. You know, we'll be in the back half clearly of his career. And getting a cup somewhere is more important than anything else. So like you said last, he's really, you know, laid claim as to how long he's, he thinks this window is and put a little fire under management's feet to get the job done. As we talked this morning about all the different people that Connor McDavid kind of has to find a way to make happy. And it seemed impossible, right? Like, how are you going to make the fans

in Edmonton happy? How are you going to be able to, you know, serve your own aim of trying to chase the Stanley Cup? Your teammates obviously want the Stanley Cup. The PA is going to want you to know, keep this rising tide lifting. In a strange way, I don't think any single stakeholder can be mad at Connor McDavid for this deal now because this is what he's done, right? The Edmonton Oilers, I'm giving you two more years. I'm not leaving yet. You're going to have basically my entire peak prime. That's in the bag. The PA, as Sean Gentilly pointed out in our Slack channel, like this contract is expiring at the same time as the US TV deal. You expect another cap explosion potentially at that point. If the explosion even slows from where it's been going, right?

Like it could just be a steady rise up. If that's what it comes to, you will get your big money deal then. I feel quite certain about that. And to himself, he stays on a winning team, a team that has been in the Stanley Cup finals both of the last two years. And they allow, to Daniel's point, like you signed Jake Wallman, and he was a big piece of their team last year. You keep him in the fold.

So I think he managed to do kind of the impossible and thread that needle. It kind of, we said he couldn't please anybody, right? And I don't think he did please anybody here. That's the thing. You can't be mad at him, but nobody's thrilled. Oilers fans are like, oh, God, he's leaving in two years. You know, the PA is like, oh, my God, he just took, you know, $8 million under market value. His teammates are like, oh, God, he's going to leave us.

Like, I don't think anyone is thrilled about this, but you're right. He kind of just kind of threaded that needle. And, you know, it's funny. I'm talking you right now from the Florida Panthers practice. I mean, I've been down here the last few days talking to some of these players. And Brad Marchan, Sam Reinhardt, Paul Maurice, all of them have talked about the quote-unquote financial sacrifices that the Panthers have made to keep what they have together here. And you look at their cap sheet, and we can talk about taxes all you want. But the fact is, Sam Reinhardt's only making 8.6.

He's worth more than that. He has 57 goals. Sam Bennett signed for just 8 million. Radmarshan signed for just 5 million. Barkov's making just 10 million. I mean, these are all guys that should be making more money elsewhere, but they're not. This is, you know, between this and now McDavid, it's kind of setting the bar. Like, Caprizov is now the outlier, right?

The guy who went and got the bag. And I think all of us want to see these guys get the bag. They deserve it. I'm not on the side of billionaires here. But this is just another example of these players feeling the pressure to participate in their team's building, right? Like you have to take that sacrifice. You have to take that haircut if you want to win. And I'm really curious to see how other superstars whose contracts are coming up in the coming years take that message.

But the thing is, and Daniel can speak to this, right? Like no one else is in Connor McDavid's situation. No one else is on a team that's been to the Stanley Cup each of the last years. If someone else goes to, you know, if their GM goes to them and says, like, hey, we want you to do what Connor did and, you know, just extend it your same salary, they can go back to him and say, yeah, well, I wanted to be in the Stanley Cup finals each of the last two years and how did that work out. Right. Like, I don't think anyone else can use that against Connor McDavid. Yeah, and players have become, in some degrees, maybe Caprisoff, as you mentioned last, is the outlier. But players have become capologists, too.

Like Connor McDavid looks at Leon Dries-Sitle making 14. He looks at Evan Bouchard making, I think it's 10 and a half, Donald Nurse making 9 in a quarter. order and says, oh my God, if I take, you know, what I really am worth, which is, you know, 20% of the cap, so 20 million, give or take and the cap going up, is this team really going to have a chance to win? And, you know, like last said, he left, you know, seven and a half, eight, whatever million dollars really on the table. If he had taken that contract, everyone would have said, oh, he's worth that, like, obviously.

So, yeah, I mean, he's also, he's talked about that. he's talked about threading the needle and he does know that there is this real desire to win. And that's how it's, you know, the best chance for it to happen is if he does that, it takes a little bit less. And it took a lot less than I think even people thought, you know, when people were kind of speculating about short-term extension, whether it be two or three years, kind of in that $15, 16 million range. And he took the same 12 and a half that he'd been getting for the last eight years where he was clearly underpaid,

based on what he'd done. So, yeah, the players are capitalists now, too. Like, they have to make what they want to make and try to get as much money as they can. That's what the PA wants them to do as well. They have to look at the team too. And I don't think anyone's crying over, has two years for McDavid here.

But, and I think, you know, in a couple years when that contract's up, he's really going to secure the bag, as you guys refer to it. I think now it's just this, this kind of unique opportunity. And he kind of took a little bit less for that opportunity. Laz is about to get thrown out of his second hockey rink in two weeks.

We'll go quick here with these last two questions. Daniel, what is the reaction locally there? Is it more to the, hey, you know, we got Connor McDavid for two or three more years or is it more dread? No, it's definitely like the thrill of extending this window for another two years. You know, again, three counting this year. but I don't think he was ever going to leave this year, even if he decided he was going to go to market,

which never really looked to me like was going to happen. Again, he made it clear he wanted it to win in Edmonton, so I never saw him pulling the shoot this year. So we're adding two more years to the mix. And I think that's what people are really looking at here. They think, like, you know, if the team can't get it done in this period, these next three years, you know, again,

this isn't McDavid's fault, but it is his problem. He's got a, he'll want to get it done and he's got this time to get it done. So there's, although there is that dread, you know, see that from outside the market, notably our biggest city in the country in Canada, you'll see the, you know, the two-year term as being that he's out of here. And, you know, quite frankly, that's a very real possibility. But I think here in Edmonton, all you're talking, all they're talking about is, you know,

that he's around for a couple more years. I hope what this means is that more players are willing to take these short-term deals. I want to see these guys with the cap going up the way it's been going up. We've been talking about this for a while now. These guys should be taking two or three-year deals. Not only does that give you more money, but it gives you more control over your future. And if you get into a situation, I think of Seth Jones in Chicago where he signed thinking they were going to be a contender and then nine days in, nine games in, they were in a rebuild.

And he was stuck there for eight years. And it took a while for him that kind of extricate him from that. Guys should be signing two or three year deals so that they can maneuver. It would be more fun, I think, for a lot of fans. Nobody wants to be rooting for laundry. But at the same time, it'll allow for more parity. It'll allow for teams to make that leap from also-round-the-contender quicker. It'll just be more interesting in the off-season.

And it gives these players the power. And the players should have the power in a league like this. Yeah, and especially a star like Connor McDavid, right? Like, he blew out his knee several years ago. That didn't change anything, right? Like, I mean, granted, it was quite the comeback from that injury. But he's, you know, he's always going to have a contract. He's always going to have a big contract.

You know, you go down the list, Austin Matthews, Jack Heiko. Name your superstar, right? It's the guys like Mikola there in Florida. If somebody's going to give you that contract, yeah, you take it. But, you know, the superstars should be signing like they do in basketball, these short-term deals that will allow them to hit the market more consistently. and with the cap going up, allow them to make more money. Last question, then I'm going to ask you to put yourself in Stan Bowman's shoes here,

and you just got this deal done. You know you have this amount of time to work with on the best player in the world. And you obviously have Leon Drysidl already in the fold here. How are you approaching the next year or two? Are you trying to push as many chips in as possible? How are you trying to balance that with the reality that in two years you may be in for kind of the nightmare scenario? or can you not even let that answer or enter your mind here? Yeah.

Well, today I'm taking a deep breath, having a drink, and just relaxing for one day. But, yeah, the clock is ticking like we talked about. And I'm trying to do everything I can to win a Stanley Cup in these next three years. Let the future be damned. I mean, we've already talked about, you know, Ryan Nugent Hopkins. I didn't mention him really, but Nugent Hopkins nurse, Hyman, like these guys are a bit older, dry-siddle, you know, is just about to turn 30 here as well. If it doesn't happen in this time, even if he does,

Connor McDavid does resign past this extension, it's things are looking bleak. Like they don't have, they haven't had, the last first round pick that they've developed and is on the team is Evan Bouchard, who's 20, who's 2018 pick. We all know what happened with Holloway and Brobert. Those were two huge losses for this organization. They've spent first round picks to acquire, you know,

Wallman to acquire Adam Henrique, a couple others in previous years. They don't have one this year. Probably won't know one in in in 2027. So you just got to at this point have to keep pushing the chips in. They're doing little things to try to, like they built out their player development staff. They added Ike Howard. They added Matt Savoy. There's a couple of prospects coming, but the cupboard's pretty bare. Eventually barring something completely. unforeseen this is going to turn into a Chicago, a Pittsburgh situation. And they need to get a cup while the going is still good. Yeah, I think this McDavid situation really is, you know, as a shot.

You know, I think teammates should be kind of looking at that as well. You know, you saw Evan Bouchard signed a four-year extension in the offseason as an RFA. Again, I think things could change very drastically after this contract. track's over especially obviously if he does leave you look at at leon dry siddle i mean he's in now year one of eight um you know two three years goes by macdavid lees you might be thinking that it's time to go to contract be damned so if i'm stan bowman i'm looking at this and i'm saying let's do everything we possibly can to win and i know one of you might mention a goaltender because that's a topic of conversation just but uh yeah it's convenient yeah he's on that i'll give him credit he's

done that with Connor Ingram. And I think, you know, at the deadline, if things aren't going well, I think they really look hard at that position too. But yeah, put the chips in. Let the future be, let the future work how it will. I'll say this, man, trade deadline 2028 is going to be incredible. I can't wait. All right.

Well, we got a ways until then. But the big news today, Connor McDavid re-signed in Edmonton for two more years after this one. For Daniel Nugent Bowman and Mark Lazarus, I am Max Goldman. Thanks for being with us today. We'll talk to you soon.