The Edmonton Oilers know now is the time to win, given the contract status of their captain, Connor McDavid. McDavid signed a two-year extension before the 2025-26 season with an AAV of $12.5 million. He put it up to the management, General Manager Stan Bowman, to improve the team to win the Stanley Cup.
However, it is clear that the Oilers have gotten worse, not better. As previously stated on NHLRumors.com, and as a running theme since the start of the season, Edmonton is not as good as their 2025 Stanley Cup Final team, and worse than their 2024 Stanley Cup Final team, which lost in Game 7.
But still, Connor McDavid is still determined to win in Edmonton despite the noise around him that he wants to leave. He made it clear on Saturday when he was last available to the media that he wants to win again in Edmonton.
“I want to win, and I want to win here in Edmonton, that’s what I’m focused on,” McDavid said when asked if he wants out if the Oilers don’t win the Stanley Cup in the next two seasons.
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However, this question and narrative has surrounded him, since the eight-year contract he signed that was supposed to expire at the end of this season. It seems that the issue is that taking the best players out of these markets so that they can win elsewhere is a real thing, but McDavid made no bones about it: he wants to win a big trophy.
“I’m not going to get into all that,” added McDavid when asked what the team should do to keep him beyond the contract. The only thing that matters is the big cup competition. That’s all that matters. And if I feel like that’s there, then yes.
The last part will be open to interpretation, especially about whether you feel it’s in Edmonton. And the story started again with the departure of Connor McDavid when the Oilers lost to the Anaheim Ducks in six games in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The NHL on the TNT Panel disputed this topic, and while Henrik Lundqvist admitted that it was a tough window, and Paul Bissonette did not want to comment on the elephant in the room, analyst Anson Carter believes that the Edmonton Oilers have a year to fix things with Connor McDavid still in the team before leaving him.
“Maybe I’ll give him a year this year, and then I’ll have to decide what they’re going to do with Conor McDavid. I really do,” Carter said on TNT following Game 6 vs the Ducks. “I know he signed a two-year contract. He’s not going to make it two years if there’s not a lot of improvement in this hockey team. I’ve seen them move Conor McDavid without a doubt.”
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But Carter is right about the Oilers’ window. Managers and even players, including Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year extension to stay in Edmonton, know that this is an important summer for the club, as every move is important to keep Connor McDavid for a long time in Edmonton.
“A lot. I mean, what’s the world where you have the best player in the world on your team and you’re not looking to win?” Draisaitl told reporters Saturday when asked about what the Oilers are doing to shape McDavid’s time in Edmonton. “Like, I know we’re looking to win, but we need to get better. We’ve got to get better. There’s no way around it. We’ve got to improve. And he signed another two years, and God knows where that goes, but we’ve got two years here right now. From now on, we’ve got two years, and we’ve got to be a lot better.”
McDavid and Leon Draisaitl called the team “average” and “not good enough” following the loss in Game 6. GM Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch agreed with those statements. Bowman understands that McDavid wants to win. The organization as a whole wants to win again, but it’s not easy to be a contender every year.
However, it is clear that this is a big season for the Edmonton Oilers or big changes and decisions may be coming next summer. Whether or not this narrative is complete is up for debate, but it doesn’t go away.
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