I think on the Leon, McDavid, Bouchard contracts its going to be really interesting in terms of the contract dynamics and pressures.
McDavid - "There's no question that the only move that the Oilers can do when it comes to sign him is just to slide a contract under his nose, that's set at the league maximum.
Connor realizes that if he signs this deal, he'll be a rich young man, beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but he'll be a rich young man in Edmonton for 7 more years.
Right now the cap is 88 this year, but 92 next year, and likely will increase by the maximum what 5% the year after from 92 million to what about 96 million. I think that the league maximum is 20% of salary space, so if the Oilers are going to be under pressure from the fans to get him under a max contract, The NHLPA is going to pressure Conner to accept that maximum contract, and Draisaitl is going to be trying to help his friend get to that level. So can Edmonton afford a lets say $!8 mil AAV over lets say 7 years.
Oh and here's the beauty, I'm sure that McDavid has already put in a call to his former agent acting GM of the Oilers and said "Dude if you don't sign my buddy Pissy, I'm not even talking contract with you next year, if you trade him, I'm not interested in staying".
So lets say a 5.5 to 6 million dollar increase in his average pay.
Draisaitl - We've seen the comments of his agent that he felt that Draisaitl has been underpaid by 30% and you can't argue with a guy that's had 5 100 point seasons. Oiler fans are clamouring for a home team discount. Well listen to what his agent said, the pressures on the Oilers.
The NHLPA, McDavid, and Draisaitl's agent have a unified message to the Oilers
1. My client feels that he's been underpaid on his last contract.
2. If the deals not done by the end of August its a sign of the teams interest.
Meanwhile, McDavid, and the NHLPA are going to push hard on this contract to establish value. McDavid because for some ungodly reason he's friends with pissy, the NHLPA because they want to accelerate contracts to match cap hits.
At the same time, you can look at Draisaitl and his agent as they point to Austin Matthews deal at $13.25 I think, and say if you want a stretch argument, Nathan McKinnon is the I think the second highest paid player in the NHL, and justifiably so until the McDavid bill. but, and agents use numbers. Nathan hasn't been as productive as Leon. Add on that Leon has the hammer here, and he already feels that he's been there done that with the home team discount deal.
I would be willing to bet that the starting point for a Leon deal is the max of 7 years at 1 year more then Matthews just to make a point so 13, 250,001.
Bouchard - Now we come to where Oiler friends really f'd themselves. Bouchard finished 5th in Norris voting. put up 82 points in the regular season, more then a point a game in the playoffs, and was a key part of their power play, and he's only 24.
and the Oilers folded to Darnell Nurse and signed him to a 9.250 contract as a RFA. I would expect that Bouchards agents are going to point at that contract and say, I'm better, I'm younger, and I want to be the highest paid blueliner on your team if you want to to sign away any UFA years. Or we can sign a 7 million dollar shot term deal to take me to UFA status, and then I'm gone.
After signing a 9.5 million dollar a year contract, Evan changes his jersey number to 13 as a salute to his favourite menu item number on the McDonald's menu, the 10 piece Chick McNuggets with two packages of dipping lard.
So here's my prediction 1 - Every thing goes right for the Oilers
McDavid 7 years $18 million
Draisaitl 7 years 13.250 million
Bouchard 7 years 9.5 million.
Total 40.750
So after that's done, we have an Oiler team in 26 27 with 8 players signed, and between 27 and 31 million left in cap space.
So here's prediction 2 - Things go sideways here, and the Oilers can't reach a deal by the end of August. The Oilers do really well in the regular season and they can't afford to trade Draisaitl and throw the dice on winning the cup, and they don't, and Draisaitl leaves for nothing. And the end of the year, McDavid calls a press conference, and says that he can't see himself staying with an Edmonton team that couldn't reach a contract agreement with the second best player in the league in Draisaitl, and its clear that the Oilers are going to rebuild, and he'd like to be traded.
Meanwhile Bouchard watches this press conference from a couch stuffed with virgins wile he snacks on his new 7 big mac a day diet now that he's making nearly 10 million bucks a year for the next 7 years.
The Oilers going in to 2026 27 would have 6 players under contract with 57 a year in cap space, probably a big bucket of picks and prospects from McDavid's trade, and nothing from Draisaitl. They will have a grim future with not a lot on the farm and nothing to build on. Oiler fans avoid Oiler tickets like the plague as their best player is a midget named Matthew Savoie who put up 15 goals the year before, and then the NHL phones Katz and says, "Sorry Bra, but under our new rules, we're going to relegate your team to the AHL until you unscrew themselves.
Bow bow bow, applause applause applause.