Connor McDavid, Oilers agree to contract extension: Edmonton signs three-time league MVP to two-year deal

The speculation around Connor McDavid’s future with the Edmonton Oilers can be put to rest, at least for now. McDavid has signed a two-year, $25 million contract extension with the Oilers, the team announced Monday. 

McDavid, a three-time winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP, was entering the final year of his current contract at $12.5 million per season. He’ll make the same AAV in his new two-year contract extension, which comes in well below market value, especially after the Minnesota Wild signed Kirill Kaprizov to an extension worth $17 million per year. If he had hit free agency next summer, McDavid would have commanded a price tag north of Kaprizov’s number, which makes this an extremely team-friendly deal.

McDavid confirmed the extension with a post on social media.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, McDavid has delivered on the promise of being a generational talent. Since his rookie season in 2015-16, McDavid ranks fifth in goals (361) and leads the league in assists (721) and points (1,082) over that span.

After a decade in the NHL, McDavid already has a trophy case overflowing with accolades. McDavid has earned just about every individual award a player can win:

• Hart Trophy (3x)
• Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy
• Art Ross Trophy (5x)
• Ted Lindsay Award (4x)
• Conn Smythe Trophy
• NHL First-Team All-Star (5x)
• NHL Second-Team All-Star (2x)

In each of the last two seasons, McDavid has led the Oilers to Stanley Cup Final appearances. In those deep postseason runs, McDavid has posted a combined 15 goals and 60 assists over 47 games. Assist numbers like those haven’t been seen since all-time greats like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were vying for the Cup.

The final step for McDavid — and the only missing piece in his collection of NHL hardware — is to hoist that elusive Stanley Cup.

What this means for the Oilers

McDavid could have signed an eight-year deal with an astronomical AAV to become the richest player in NHL history. Instead, he took a deep discount to stay and compete for a Stanley Cup. That should excite those in the Oilers’ front office. It should also inject a deep sense of urgency into the building.

This contract is a “prove-it” deal for the Oilers. They must prove to McDavid that they’re capable of fixing the same issues that have plagued this team in recent seasons. They must prove they’re willing to exhaust every avenue possible to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

It’s been a while since Edmonton had stable and reliable goaltending for an entire season. Last year, the duo of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard posted -5.7 goals saved above average, according to Natural Stat Trick. In the postseason, they combined for -5.37 goals saved above average. That’s probably not going to cut it against the best teams in the NHL, even with McDavid picking up the slack at the other end.

Goaltending isn’t a new problem for Edmonton, either. That position has been subpar for a few seasons now, and it’s resulted in the Oilers losing games they should otherwise win.

The other issue the Oilers have been unable to fix is depth scoring, which could have been solved rather easily ahead of last season. Prior to the 2024-25 campaign, Edmonton allowed restricted free agent Dylan Holloway leave for the St. Louis Blues by way of an offer sheet costing a meager $2.29 million. In his place, the Oilers brought in aging veterans Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner.

Holloway, 24, tallied 26 goals and 37 assists. Arvidsson and Skinner, 32 and 33 years old, respectively, combined for 31 goals and 25 assists. Perhaps more damning than that was the playoff production of Arvidsson and Skinner. Neither was a meaningful contributor as they totaled three goals and six assists. Meanwhile, Edmonton leaned heavily on 40-year-old Corey Perry, who is now gone.

Moving forward, the Oilers have to be more creative and aggressive when it comes to building around players like McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard. That’s especially true now that they’re getting McDavid for a bargain bin price, relatively speaking. There are no more excuses left on the board for general manager Stan Bowman, who has three seasons to sell McDavid on his vision for the future.