Connor McDavid did the Oilers a huge favor, and now the pressure is on them to win

He has his contract and may have put a timer on the Edmonton Oilers.

Connor McDavid was always going to re-sign with the Edmonton Oilers. While nothing is ever a guarantee until a contract is actually signed, there was probably less than a 1 percent chance that this was going to end with any other outcome beyond him staying in Edmonton. It was just a matter of how long he would sign and for how much.

This time, at least.

On Monday, one day before the start of the 2025-26 NHL regular season begins, we ended up getting our answer.

It’s a two-year extension worth a total of $25 million, which comes out to a salary cap hit of $12.5 million per season.

It’s a laughable steal for the Oilers. It’s the exact same salary cap hit that his previous contract carried, and when you take into account the rising salary cap it’s actually a pretty sharp pay decrease for McDavid relative to what he COULD have gotten.

He could have easily walked into the Oilers front office, “said give me as much as the CBA allows,” and they would have had almost no choice but to do it. Because, shit, what are the Oilers going to do in that situation? Trade him? Let him walk after this season? Hell no. He’s the best player in the league. He’s the franchise. Of course they’re going to give him what he wants.

It turned out what he wanted was a chance to win in Edmonton.

It is not just empty PR words to say that. He backed it up by taking significantly less than he could have.

By leaving (a lot) of money on the table he’s giving Oilers management some additional salary cap flexibility over the next couple of years to give him more help to finally get the championship he is lacking.

When he signed his previous contract (for, again, the same salary cap number) it was taking up 15.7 percent of the league’s salary cap at the time. As the cap continued to rise (slowly), that percentage obviously dropped. But the combination of him taking the same salary per year, as well as some massive projected salary cap spikes in the coming seasons, that salary cap percentage has been significantly slashed.

Just look at the per-year breakdown of the two contracts.

Connor McDavid. Making 12 and 11 percent of the salary cap. It’s insane when you think about it. Assuming the salary cap keeps taking its projected increases over the next seasons, the Oilers will be paying McDavid the equivalent of what Buffalo is paying Rasmus Dahlin this season.

It’s a gift. An amazing, incredible gift.

But I’m looking at this from another angle — it’s not only McDavid saying “I want to win here,” it’s also him putting a timer on the Oilers’ front office and basically giving them two years to figure out how to do it.

Let’s talk about that.