Edmonton is No Good XII: "I Dunno.. it's Just Not Good."

[McG]

Those jerseys are the last chance for a McDavid one. Except the Captain wears 25.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Sadly you just know we're going to have to see them wear these ugly things in some of our games against them this year.

The consolation is that the boys always look sharp in the reds.

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

The consolation is that the boys always look sharp in the reds.

Or in Blasty

[schteve_d]

I don't know why this thought popped into my head with my morning coffee but it did make me smirk.

Imagine Rogers Place on the night that McDavid first returns in a Toronto jersey after having walked away for nothing.

Now that would be glorious!

Would he even be able to play?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

I don't know why this thought popped into my head with my morning coffee but it did make me smirk.

Imagine Rogers Place on the night that McDavid first returns in a Toronto jersey after having walked away for nothing.

Now that would be glorious!

Would he even be able to play?

Guess we will find out.

[schteve_d]

It got me thinking after my previous post: Maybe that is what McDavid is thinking. The best thing for him and whatever team he goes to is to walk away from the Oilers for nothing.

If the Grease trade him, they will still get a haul. Whoever wants him will have to give up plenty of pieces including good roster players and really good prospects. Where does that leave his new team? Exactly where the Oil are, with no depth and nothing in the cupboards.

He knows how that works out. Bold strategy Cotton Connor.

[scotty2hotty]

Maybe his plan is to go to a contender at the trade deadline for whatever ‘haul’ that ends up being.

Then he can walk and sign with Toronto in the off season?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

Maybe his plan is to go to a contender at the trade deadline for whatever ‘haul’ that ends up being.

Then he can walk and sign with Toronto in the off season?

As long as the Oilers are in playoff contention he won't waive. He is absolutely committed to taking one last shot at it with the Oilers this year.

[WilliPlett]

Doesn't make sense for him to waive, and for the new team to give up good assets that would help them in a playoff run. Makes most sense for him to go into the off season and sign with a stacked team without giving up anything.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by WilliPlett

Doesn't make sense for him to waive, and for the new team to give up good assets that would help them in a playoff run. Makes most sense for him to go into the off season and sign with a stacked team without giving up anything.

Signing with a stacked team might be tough with the salary cap.

He's made plenty of money and will make plenty more regardless. If his only goal is winning a Stanley Cup, his best bet is to sign with a team that has plenty of young talent on team-friendly deals, decent depth and a high-end prospect pool. He can elevate mediocre players around him to mediocre+ players, he has proven that in Edmonton. Suddenly poor depth can become average depth. Give it a window of, say, three years.

Not sure who that team would be.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

Signing with a stacked team might be tough with the salary cap.

He's made plenty of money and will make plenty more regardless. If his only goal is winning a Stanley Cup, his best bet is to sign with a team that has plenty of young talent on team-friendly deals, decent depth and a high-end prospect pool. He can elevate mediocre players around him to mediocre+ players, he has proven that in Edmonton. Suddenly poor depth can become average depth. Give it a window of, say, three years.

Not sure who that team would be.

The Atheltic's recent article about where teams are in their contending cycle is informative for this. He would want to pick a team that is earlier in the cycle than the Oilers.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...tiers-2025-26/

So you are likely looking at
- Dallas (window open)
- Carolina/NJD (window opening)
- Montreal, Detroit, Utah, CBJ (window about to open)
- SJ, Chicago, Anaheim (window will open in a few years)

And then you also have teams who are in a contention window, where he could sign there for a shorter-term, including where his mere presence would potentially extend their window. I would look at Colorado, Tampa, Toronto, and NYR in this regard. And you know LV is always big game hunting.

If he's smart he'd look at that top list, and find a team who are entering their window. But I suspect it would be probably a team from that second list: big markets, big pockets, ready to win now.

[1Nite]

Saw several stories that Jack Roslovic, refused contract offer from the Nogoods, and fired his agent, no details, maybe he was mad that his agent even looked at the offer, probably league minimum and fine print offer of maybe a chance ofplaying on mcDoofus line for a year.

[FleeceGang]

Even if he does go the trade route, with his NMC he is in full control, can say “I’m going here only” and edmonton will have to take what they can in that deal. Connor isn’t about to deplete his future team by being traded for market value. I. My mind he will either walk for free or force a trade for spare parts.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The Atheltic's recent article about where teams are in their contending cycle is informative for this. He would want to pick a team that is earlier in the cycle than the Oilers.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...tiers-2025-26/

So you are likely looking at
- Dallas (window open)
- Carolina/NJD (window opening)
- Montreal, Detroit, Utah, CBJ (window about to open)
- SJ, Chicago, Anaheim (window will open in a few years)

And then you also have teams who are in a contention window, where he could sign there for a shorter-term, including where his mere presence would potentially extend their window. I would look at Colorado, Tampa, Toronto, and NYR in this regard. And you know LV is always big game hunting.

If he's smart he'd look at that top list, and find a team who are entering their window. But I suspect it would be probably a team from that second list: big markets, big pockets, ready to win now.

Dallas would have to clear out an awful lot of salary to make it work. If I was him, looking at that list and all things considered (on and off the ice), I think I would be taking a hard look at Carolina.

They would have a fair bit of salary cap to move out to make it work, probaly 8M or so. Without going too deep into it, on the surface that sounds doable.

Edit: Sorry, should add that Carolina is probably going to need a goalie, too, in that window. That could complicate things there as well.

[McG]

Originally Posted by 1Nite

Saw several stories that Jack Roslovic, refused contract offer from the Nogoods, and fired his agent, no details, maybe he was mad that his agent even looked at the offer, probably league minimum and fine print offer of maybe a chance ofplaying on mcDoofus line for a year.

In another thread, it says that roslovic absolutely doesn’t want to play in Canada. Maybe he fired his agent for pursuing a deal in stinkyville?

[TheIronMaiden]

Edmonton is No Good.

[GullFoss]

I wonder what an ideal destination for McDavid is? I think San Jose, Dallas or Montreal would look really good on him. All those teams are going to have significant runway in terms of contending

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

I wonder what an ideal destination for McDavid is? I think San Jose, Dallas or Montreal would look really good on him. All those teams are going to have significant runway in terms of contending

It's Toronto. It's where he wants his legacy to be. The hometown kid ends the draught. Just wait and see.

[Rutuu]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The Atheltic's recent article about where teams are in their contending cycle is informative for this. He would want to pick a team that is earlier in the cycle than the Oilers.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...tiers-2025-26/

So you are likely looking at
- Dallas (window open)
- Carolina/NJD (window opening)
- Montreal, Detroit, Utah, CBJ (window about to open)
- SJ, Chicago, Anaheim (window will open in a few years)

And then you also have teams who are in a contention window, where he could sign there for a shorter-term, including where his mere presence would potentially extend their window. I would look at Colorado, Tampa, Toronto, and NYR in this regard. And you know LV is always big game hunting.

If he's smart he'd look at that top list, and find a team who are entering their window. But I suspect it would be probably a team from that second list: big markets, big pockets, ready to win now.

We haven't seen a person with this type of Z-score move teams since the Gretzky trade in 1988. Gretzky helped improved the Kings from 68pts in 87-88 to 91 points in 88-89.

While I agree that teams like NJ/Carolina/Dallas would be really attractive. McDavid will open the contention window for a number of teams that have more depth than a sans-McDavid Oilers roster.

So why not just pick Toronto? The teams good. It's his childhood team. It's the biggest hockey market, and he'll be the biggest story. Also winning one Cup in Toronto will end the conversation around why he doesn't have 3 by now as one of the best to lace them up.

It's going to be a fun year watching this all unfold. We've been waiting for this ever since the lottery balls fell the wrong way in 2015. Enjoy everyone.

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The Atheltic's recent article about where teams are in their contending cycle is informative for this. He would want to pick a team that is earlier in the cycle than the Oilers.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...tiers-2025-26/

So you are likely looking at
- Dallas (window open)
- Carolina/NJD (window opening)
- Montreal, Detroit, Utah, CBJ (window about to open)
- SJ, Chicago, Anaheim (window will open in a few years)

And then you also have teams who are in a contention window, where he could sign there for a shorter-term, including where his mere presence would potentially extend their window. I would look at Colorado, Tampa, Toronto, and NYR in this regard. And you know LV is always big game hunting.

If he's smart he'd look at that top list, and find a team who are entering their window. But I suspect it would be probably a team from that second list: big markets, big pockets, ready to win now.

Just out of curiousity, where were the Flames ranked in this? If some of their picks and prospects pan out we can't be far away from teams like San Jose and Chicago.