[Signing] McDavid signs extension: 8 years, 12.5M per.

[Redrum]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Are we seriously arguing whether McDavid is the best player in the league?

Goals are more important than 2nd assists. It's still Crosby for now, and I don't even like Crosby.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

If the debate after two years in the league is whether McDavid is better than Crosby then he's already won.

I remember posters on here at the start of the season arguing Monahan was, at the time, better than McDavid. Point is , CP may not be the spot for an objective discussion on the matter.

Personally I take Crosby if we're talking about just next season. Anything more than that it's McDavid.

Most importantly I don't think either are unbeatable.

Won what? Won the debate because there is a debate.. Very odd post.

I don't think anyone in the league including Crosby would take Crosby over McDavid to start a franchise because of age. That has very to do with the debate over who is the best player now,

[IrishSpring2013]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Won what? Won the debate because there is a debate.. Very odd post.,

agreed...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Won what? Won the debate because there is a debate.. Very odd post.

I don't think anyone in the league including Crosby would take Crosby over McDavid to start a franchise because of age. That has very nothing to do with the debate over who is the best player now,

Fixed that for you.

Damn....I wish I was a Penguins fan. That must be fun.

[Beninho]

If you are going to pair Drai with McDavid how much is Drai actually worth? While effective it now seems foolish to have paired him with McDavid as this Drai contract could cause some serious problems. When Edmonton signed Lucic last year I doubt they envisioned Drai producing the amount of points he did this season. If they deployed Drai on his own line as a center the whole season he probably gets 2 mill less than he's about to get, and when you have a player making 13.25 mill every dollar counts.

[Enoch Root]

For those saying that McDavid will be the best player in the league for 10+ years, I strongly disagree.

Let's look at Gretzky as a comparable: he was, by a large margin, the best player in the world at 20. McDavid just had his 19/20 season. In Gretzky's 19/20 season he had 164 points and was the best player by a mile. McDavid was the 2nd best player in the league this year, IMO.

8 years later, Gretzky was playing for the Kings. Think about that. In the equivalent of year 7 of McDavid's contract, Gretzky was still great, but he was no longer anywhere near the player he was 4 years earlier.

Can McDavid have more staying power? Maybe. But I would argue two things:

1) for pure offense, players peak from 20 through 27.

2) (far more importantly), the league is much, much deeper than it was in the 80s. McDavid is arguably the best player. Arguable. Gretzky, at the same age, was in a completely different league than everyone else.

This year, Matthews had a better rookie season than McDavid did.

There are new stars entering the league now at a much, much faster rate than in the past.

Will McDavid be the best player in the league for all 8 years of his contract? I would bet it'll be more like 3 or 4 of them, tops. All 8? Not a chance in hell, IMO.

Is $13.25M too much for him? Not at all. However, this idea that he will be substantially better than everyone else for the life of the contract is off-base IMO.

So the real question is: can the Oilers build a winning team around that contract in a cap league? We shall see. But I think it will be very, very difficult.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Pretty hard for McDavid to outscore both of them combined...maybe I'm a homer too

You have to consider that whomever McDavid plays with will likely be more productive as a result. Just like Gaudreau and Monahan help each other. McDavid might get between 100-125 points himself per season in the next few seasons, but he will probably add another 50-75 vicariously through his teammates.

There will definitely be cap challenges when you have a player making that much and the margin of error becomes more tedious for the GM, but McDavid is worth it.

[Vinny01]

The Oiler fan I talked to this morning is just over the moon happy they got the 8 years

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

The Oiler fan I talked to this morning is just over the moon happy they got the 8 years

Again, I am starting to believe that contract will be a huge burden in years 7 and 8. I honestly think they would have been much better off if it were 5 or 6 (and presumably a little cheaper)

[Enoch Root]

Was talking to a group of (much smarter than the average) Oiler fans on the weekend... They were all talking $9.7M. Absolutely convinced. Were sure he would take the lower number to help build a winner.

I said: 5 years at $ 11.5 - 12M or 7 or 8 years at $13.5 - 14M.

Their response (behind condescending smirks): "we'll see"

Yes boys, we will!

[CliffFletcher]

As someone who believes play without the puck is as important as play with the puck, I have no problem saying Crosby is a better player than McDavid. Maybe McDavid will eventually develop into a relentless forechecking demon who's a nightmare to go into the corner against. But right now I know who I'd rather have on the ice in a game 7.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Was talking to a group of (much smarter than the average) Oiler fans on the weekend... They were all talking $9.7M. Absolutely convinced. Were sure he would take the lower number to help build a winner.

I said: 5 years at $ 11.5 - 12M or 7 or 8 years at $13.5 - 14M.

Their response (behind condescending smirks): "we'll see"

Yes boys, we will!

Yeah....smarter than the average bear is still pretty low.

McDavid will apparently be the first player in the NHL with a 3-digit number. Burkie will be apoplectic.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Was talking to a group of (much smarter than the average) Oiler fans on the weekend... They were all talking $9.7M. Absolutely convinced. Were sure he would take the lower number to help build a winner.

I said: 5 years at $ 11.5 - 12M or 7 or 8 years at $13.5 - 14M.

Their response (behind condescending smirks): "we'll see"

Yes boys, we will!

I have had the very same conversations

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Again, I am starting to believe that contract will be a huge burden in years 7 and 8. I honestly think they would have been much better off if it were 5 or 6 (and presumably a little cheaper)

Nah. All contracts look better when inflation has its way with them.

The only way it looks bad in years 7 and 8 is a career altering injury, which is possible, but not something you can plan for.

I had McDavid at $12.5 so I was a little under. I'm still alright with $13 and happy the Oilers got the 8 years instead of 5.

[IrishSpring2013]

years 7 and 8 is 8 and 9 years away... no way does the contract look worse a decade from now.. its getting through years 2-3-4-5-6 that will be the issue..

what happens to pool party if he breaks out.. there isnt enough cap space as it is. fun stuff. ..

[timbit]

Lucic will be making 6 mil cap hit the next 6 years.

Great news for Oiler fans!!!!!

Inflation will temper the pain.

[Lanny_McDonald]

The Canadian buck could play a big role in the viability of this contract. A weak loonie likely means stagnant revenues and a stagnant cap. The cap can only go the direction of revenues, and if league wide revenues take a dive, the big contracts will be the ones that hurt the most. The Canadian buck goes down and the Oilers could be doubly screwed.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Again, I am starting to believe that contract will be a huge burden in years 7 and 8. I honestly think they would have been much better off if it were 5 or 6 (and presumably a little cheaper)

How will Connor McDavid be a burden? If he's playing with one arm and one leg maybe. The amount of money he makes that franchise is a drop in the bucket compared to what they're paying him.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Nah. All contracts look better when inflation has its way with them.

The only way it looks bad in years 7 and 8 is a career altering injury, which is possible, but not something you can plan for.

I had McDavid at $12.5 so I was a little under. I'm still alright with $13 and happy the Oilers got the 8 years instead of 5.

I'm not saying he'll be a terrible player in years 7 and 8.

What I'm saying is that, in order for that contract to be good value, he has to be the best player in the league.

And I am predicting that he will only be in that conversation for about 5 years.

As for cap erosion, I would not be banking on a lot of that if I were you. Two big issues working against continued cap inflation:

1) the Canadian dollar
2) TV deals (read: cable)

Neither look overly promising at the moment.

[CaptainCrunch]

The Oilers are betting on cap increases every year. Some Oiler fans figure that by the time the contract is up the cap will be at or over 100 million. so this becomes the bargain contract of the century.

The heat is on for McDavid already, there are a lot of Oiler fans that aren't happy about the dollar value. Every time McDavid gets shut out someone is going to bring up that he gets paid $207,000 Cdn each game. If he gets crushed in a playoff series like he did against the Ducks, the Oiler fans base will be



If the Oilers have to do more with less, and they can't bridge the gap with good drafting and development, they've arrived where the Blackhawks are now after winning their cups.

On top of that, a think team usually becomes a playoff victim, not a playoff victor.

If Drai's contract is over $7.5 the same thing applies and lets be honest, Draisaitl had a great season, but he's wildly inconsistent, but his agent is going to dig in, he has too many advantages. But if Drai doesn't absolutely not only light it up, but show $5 million or more worth of consistency that fan base is going to turn on him.

To me the 8 year term is irrelevant for McDavid's contract. The gamble is on the cap going up and on McDavid carrying the Oilers to the cup. If the cap doesn't go up enough or he can't carry a subpar depth chart deep into the playoffs every year, the Oilers will move him by the end of year 5 for maximum rebuild assets.