Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
The fact that there is no contract means he's not signing.
Look at it this way. Is there any contract the Oilers would say no to? Of course not. They would agree to anything McDavid asks for.
Why hasn't McDavid asked for his ideal contract then? Because he has no intention of extending there, otherwise it would have been done already.
This isn't a scenario of back-and-forth negotiation between club and player. This is a scenario of a club phoning the player, and him not picking up the phone.
I think the conversation will start to shift when the season starts to trade or walk scenarios.
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This. The cap is going up, they would have zero issue being able to re-sign him. A blank check will be given to Connor amongst 32 GMs saying, "pick me, pick me!" I think Leon is doing all he can to have McDavid stay for at least a 4–5-year deal, but even that is hard for McDavid to consider. It's not like he was unfaithful to the Oil, by the time this season ends he has been there for 11 years.
He wants to play where he wants to play, and that seems to be Toronto. He would never admit this, but I bet the sad face he showed during the draft lottery of 2015 was because Toronto was sooo close to winning 1st OA. Instead, they had to roll with other local Toronto kid Mitch Marner as a consolation prize. They now lost him; they let him go. They are most definitely using that cap for a McDavid push and rolling with a McDavid/Matthews 1-2 punch for a few years.
As for a trade scenario, I don't see it happening. If Edmonton's window closed, I would agree with you. It may very well close this year, they lost a lot of talent by having to force themselves to trade cap away. Players like Kane, Perry, Arvidsson, while we like to make fun of how old they were, they were still great depth pieces. Now, they might start the season with a Hyman still recovering from surgery and Ekholm who may be out the whole season. Edmonton is still all in, and probably can win a round or two. If they can miraculously make it to the SCF for the 3rd straight year (which I doubt, the gas isn't there), then they better hope McDavid can finally reach the promised land.
If they lose for a 3rd straight year, no matter the placement of where they end up, why would you even consider going back? Clearly, he will see, (and I think he's starting to finally notice), that you cannot win a championship on the backs of 1 or 2 people. Even the likes of Gretzky/Messier, Lemieux/Jagr, Crosby/Malkin, Toews/Kane, and plenty of other duos/teams all needed a strong supporting cast to win a championship. Better than anything Edmonton has ever employed due to their mismanaged cap tied to players that shouldn't have that kind of cap (Bouchard and Nurse) and terrible goaltending that has been going on for decades.