{"id":101746,"date":"2025-08-27T21:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101746\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T21:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:41:09","slug":"thoughts-on-connor-mcdavids-contract-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101746\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Connor McDavid’s contract situation"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY — Was putting together some notes on Team Canada bringing together its men\u2019s, women\u2019s and Paralympic hockey hopefuls in Calgary \u2014 trying to become the first country to win all three gold medals in one Olympic year.<\/p>\n

But Connor McDavid<\/a>‘s contract news overshadowed everything, so let\u2019s pivot.<\/p>\n

McDavid, who can be an unrestricted free agent next July 1, reiterated Wednesday that he has \u201cevery intention to win in Edmonton,\u201d but added it was not a guarantee he\u2019d sign before the start of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say all options are on the table. I don\u2019t have a preference either way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of Edmonton\u2019s second consecutive Stanley Cup defeat to Florida, several people who know the Oilers captain much better than I do say he is even more consumed with winning \u2014 if that was even possible. Getting so close without lifting the Holy Grail didn\u2019t quench the fire. It created even more hunger.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what this is about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McDavid must be convinced the Oilers will continue to be a serious Stanley Cup contender. Any team with he and Leon Draisaitl are high on the list of challengers. But it takes a village, and he wants to see a strong foundation for years to come.<\/p>\n

The Oilers don\u2019t see it differently, and everything they\u2019ve done over the past few years is about winning. But, until McDavid signs, there\u2019s something imperfect in his eyes, whether effective youth or strong enough goaltending or something else.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible he could leave Calgary, go back to Edmonton, meet with the Oilers and say, \u201cI\u2019m good with what I\u2019m hearing, let\u2019s go.\u201d However, he\u2019s now warned us that may not be happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I admit I\u2019m surprised he\u2019d consider not signing before the season. I thought he wouldn\u2019t want Kyle Bukauskas and Bob Stauffer bothering him all year. We\u2019ve seen plenty of players affected by uncertainty, but I don\u2019t think it will impact McDavid. He\u2019s too laser-focused. There are two targets this season \u2014 Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup. Nothing will deviate him from that path.<\/p>\n

\"3232 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n

The bigger question is if it will become a distraction to the players and organization. As long as he\u2019s unsigned, it\u2019s a massive story. You can\u2019t stop the questions, the commentary and the noise in a passionate Canadian market. The Oilers are a strong, mature team. You think they can handle it, but there’s going to be a lot to ignore.<\/p>\n

At face value, I take McDavid at his word. He wants to win in Edmonton. I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s thinking about playing anywhere else. It doesn\u2019t matter that making the finals twice in a row is impressive, very hard to do. The Oilers lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nothing in life is guaranteed. But, he wants to believe that every year he puts on an Oilers jersey, they can win the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY — Was putting together some notes on Team Canada bringing together its men\u2019s, women\u2019s and Paralympic hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-101746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}