Undoubtedly, McDavid is the greatest player in the league right now and likely the best player we’ve seen since Wayne Gretzky. Leon Draisaitl is a top 10-15 player in the NHL. Evan Bouchard is the Norris Trophy favorite in the first 1/8 of the season. The talent on this roster is incredible. There is only one thing that is a concern right now and that would be Connor McDavid’s upcoming contract negotiations.
McDavid is in year one of his two year extension in which he took a discount to stay with Edmonton. The mission was clear when they signed it the previous offseason and that was to win a cup. Last season, the team underperformed to their standards and in a very weak Pacific, they saw their division rivals go on to win the West and ultimately lose to the Carolina Hurricanes. If there was a positive to losing round 1 to the Anaheim Ducks, it was that this team got time to rest. The Oilers were coming off back-to-back Finals appearances and losses to the Florida Panthers. The team looked exhausted.
Now to start the season, this team came out like bats from hell. McDavid is on pace to have 200+ points, Bouchard is leading defensemen in points with 21 in 12 games. Draisaitl is 2nd in goals at 12 and 2nd in points to McJesus. Edmonton leads the Pacific at the moment despite Vegas coming out with a very nice start. Multiple players on this team are +10 or higher, guys like Vasily Podkolzin have chipped in to the scoring, and the defense has been solid to this point in the season. Goalies have played to their ability. If there is room for improvement it would be in net.
New head coach, Mike Babcock has come in to a situation to get the most of these guys and I would find it hard to believe that he is there to develop young players. He is doing a tremendous job to this point in the season, but none of that will matter if this team doesn’t play in late June and eventually have one of the most legendary summers Canada has ever seen.
Edmonton is the oldest team in the league and if you look at the injury report that does start to show. Below is also a table of their draft picks in upcoming seasons from Puck Pedia. This is where we come back to McDavid’s contract. He is making 12.5m a season. When his contract becomes up for extension in 20(ish) months, he deserves every bit of 20+ million with where the league is heading. Much of the roster will have expiring contracts and that makes you wonder if a cup isn’t won, will McDavid resign in Edmonton. As much as I hate to say it, income tax in Canada is a b***h. He has given this team more than they could ask because without him, there is a question if it is a playoff contender, forget about the Stanley Cup contender.
If I was in the front office for the Edmonton Oilers, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Connor McDavid loves every last second of this season because if you don’t, we could be in for an offseason that consists of more rumors and backstabbing than a middle school girls lunch table. Stan Bowman, the clock is ticking.
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