| McDavid Contract Talks [message #847432] |
Tue, 02 September 2025 11:06  |
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 Adam
Messages: 7516
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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Some concern starting to show around the lack of a new deal for 97. Hopefully it gets done fairly quickly.
He was pretty clear that he wanted to see how management was ensuring that we remain in the hunt for a Cup. The Oilers seem set to start the season with the exact same defective goalie tandem that wasn't good enough the last two years.
You'll have Edmonton media guys try to tell us that hey - we were only one win away last year, and two this year so how bad can the goaltending be, but the reality is that Skinner has been atrocious in the post-season and the team has won in spite of him. Pickard is a journeyman back-up late in his career. The fact he started games while our "starter" was still healthy in the Stanley Cup Finals is a huge red flag.
Skinner's .893 Sv% in 50 games played is the WORST of any goalie with over 30 appearances in the playoffs since 2000. The only one with worse results with 20+ games played is Dan Cloutier who was a staggering .872 in 25 starts. And while if you asked people, most would say Pickard has been notably better, his save percentage is actually worse (.892).
If there's a plan to improve this tandem as the season goes on, then they better be communicating that to McDavid. Right now, this is looking like the definition of insanity - and I do wonder if it's not the biggest reason we don't have even a short extension done.
Maybe they'll surprise us all, and the real reason is that they're working on finding a way to get him signed long-term - but I feel this is probably the more likely explanation.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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Kr55
Messages: 12036
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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I start to worry if it goes after tomorrow.
Drai signed his extension Sep 3rd, 2024.
The wife is keeping up with social media. I guess McDavid's wife posted about her new matching friendship pinky rings with Drai's girl 
Keep the faith that players are generally clueless about team construction, and give huge amounts of undeserved respect to their managers, and guys like McDavid blame themselves for the failures more than anyone else. It hasn't failed us yet! In terms of keeping our big names I mean. Our big players not leveraging their ability to leave, and pointing a finger at our terrible management and demanding it be fixed properly certainly did cause our team to be managed like crap for a decade of McDavid already, and make us fail to win a cup.
[Updated on: Tue, 02 September 2025 12:09]
"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013
"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015
5 x $5,000,000
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smyth260
Messages: 1208
Registered: November 2007
1 Cup
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If we get to game 1 without an extension, I sure as hell hope they are at very least top of their division after a month or two. I have a lot of doubt that he will sign with a 10th place team.
I seriously worry about trade discussions by Christmas.
Clean house or bust
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 Mike
Messages: 1878
Registered: August 2005
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick
1 Cup
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Not feeling as optimistic as I was a couple of weeks ago. I still think it will get done, but I would be lying if I said I was not at all concerned.
The goalies over McDavid's 10 seasons (how the hell is it 10 years already?!?!?!)
Starter his first 3 years - Talbot. Pretty solid numbers the first 2, but not great in the 3rd, then pretty bad in his 4th when we added Koskinen. Then we followed that up with 3 years of Koskinen and Smith, then Skinner and Campbell, and Skinner/Pickard the last 2, and looking like we're in for a 3rd year of that.
Can't blame him if this concerns him and is part of the reason he's waiting to sign.
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Rutuu
Messages: 157
Registered: March 2011
Location: Brisbane
No Cups
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Carter Hart is our goalie solution...we all know it to be true.
I expect the NHL to lay out a way that the players involved in the incident in 2018 have a path back. And we've already given Kane / Bowman chances, it seems on brand now.
As for McDavid, he's got Matthews's agent, so I expect shorter deals to take advantage of the cap. Draisatl is still here, and signed long term, so that will be a big pull. If he's unsigned into the playoffs, well yeah...he's going to Toronto, but bar that I have positive feelings something gets done.
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Kr55
Messages: 12036
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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Wth, we just went past the 1 year anniversary of Drai's deal.
"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013
"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015
5 x $5,000,000
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Rocksteady
Messages: 580
Registered: March 2007
No Cups
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My take? The Oilers need to show McD what the future looks like for this team.
He's spent his time with a team that has been in cap hell for almost all his tenure, so yeah if I was McDavid, I'd ask a question on the future of this team.
The cupboards aren't empty, just thinly stocked.
The very definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing expecting different results.
Generally Disappointed.
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Kr55
Messages: 12036
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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McDavid saying all the right things for fans in his Rishaug interview
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/connor-mcdavid-says-confidence-in-edm onton-oilers-has-never-been-higher-1.2355239
If you take him at his word here, it seems like they are just trying to find the right balance of cap hit/term that still lets the team be competitive. McDavid has his own duty to push the limits individual cap hits for the NHLPA. Seems likely he ends up with a ~4 year deal because of how much the cap is expected to rise. Dif between a 4 and 8 year deal is probably 1-2M of cap hit.
"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013
"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015
5 x $5,000,000
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Dragon_Matt
Messages: 814
Registered: January 2009
Location: edmonton
No Cups
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I get the idea of pushing the cap, but at the same time more players would make more money if he took less (think Crosby and his 8.7). Also, when a guy's made over 100 mil in a career so far, how much more could he possibly need for 'security'?
Also, if he was to take a lower hit, the more the cap increases the more competitive team we could put around him. Or we could give 4-5 million dollar deals to 4th liners......
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Adam
Messages: 7516
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| Dragon_Matt wrote on Fri, 05 September 2025 12:15 |
I get the idea of pushing the cap, but at the same time more players would make more money if he took less (think Crosby and his 8.7). Also, when a guy's made over 100 mil in a career so far, how much more could he possibly need for 'security'?
Also, if he was to take a lower hit, the more the cap increases the more competitive team we could put around him. Or we could give 4-5 million dollar deals to 4th liners......
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It isn't about security, or about what he's made previously. It's about the fact that every contract in the league is used as a precedent for the contracts that follow - both in negotiations and in arbitration. McDavid is understood to be the best player in the league so he's going to have significant pressure from the NHL to set the bar high on what the best player gets paid because it impacts the other star players - most won't be able to convince their teams to pay them more than what McDavid is making.
There is a certain ego piece to it as well - you're the best, you want to get paid like it. You're not going to want Jack Bleeping Eichel or some other jackhole earning more money than you do.
Finally, the Oilers use of extra cap room in the past probably does hurt them to some extent here. Yes, it's a new administration, but they still see some of those same clowns in the office (Nicholson) or hanging around the lunch room (Lowe, MacTavish). When McDavid signed his last deal, he left us room to build around him and we spent $4MM a year on Kris Russell and ~$1MM a year on Eric Gryba (having to buy him out of the second year of that) and then spent most of the next 3-4 years saying we weren't ready to compete.
We've been fast to overpay marginal players and have NOT had the New England Patriots approach where if your stars are leaving money on the table, then everyone else has to as well. The management has been too scared to overplay that hand, and so they pay everyone top dollar. Given that, taking a team-friendly discount as the guy who actually makes the difference becomes pretty unpalatable. If the team had built some incredible depth we probably already have a couple of Cups. As it is, whether we win or lose in the playoffs generally rides on whether McDavid gets a point...soooo...I think it's understandable if he doesn't rush to give us a $9.7MM/year deal.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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