With the Edmonton Oilers eliminated in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks, the focus has shifted from the ice to off-ice management, particularly concerning their captain, Connor McDavid.
Following last offseason’s events, McDavid is once again at the center of attention. His contract extension has kicked in, raising the question of how the team will be strategically built around him to achieve greater success. It’s important to recall that McDavid agreed to a team-friendly deal worth $12.5 million per season but stipulated a two-year term, effectively putting management on a tight timeline.
As McDavid stated after signing, his commitment to winning in Edmonton remains strong, and he believed the two-year term was the most logical decision. He commented last October, “I obviously said I was committed to winning here, and I meant that when I said that, and two years makes a lot of sense. It gives us a chance to continue chasing down what we’ve been chasing down here with the core guys we have in here, and we have a little bit of money to work with, too.”
However, as demonstrated, General Manager Stan Bowman did not effectively utilize the available cap space. The window for the Oilers to contend for a championship with McDavid is steadily narrowing. TSN Hockey Analyst Martin Biron, when interviewed by Jay Onrait on SportsCenter, discussed the necessary steps Bowman must take to prevent McDavid from exploring free agency in two years.
Onrait posed the question, “Okay, here’s the question everyone’s going to be asking. Conor McDavid signed for two more seasons. What does Stan Bowman need to do to keep McDavid from hitting the free agent market in a couple of years?”
Biron responded, “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Obviously, you got to look at goaltending. Tristan Jarry got two more years. Connor Ingram was the number one goalie down the stretch and in the playoffs. What are you going to do with goaltending? That has been the question for three years. Are you going to address that? What about defense? You’ve got some holes on defense. What about the depth at forward? You got some holes at the forward position.
You look at the cap projection and you see the Oilers have $16 million of cap space next year. Well, that’s great. No, that’s not great, because you’re losing eight free agents this summer. So that averages out to about $2 million per player. That’s not good enough. And the rest of the league has a ton of cap space, and they’re going to look at free agency this summer.
Free agency is not going to be a great crop this summer, but at the same point, you can still help yourself. Or if you want to trade for players, you need to either have draft picks or prospects, and the Oilers don’t have either of them. So how are you going to get better? How are you going to fix the depth on forward, the defense and the goaltending?
For the Oilers, if you still want to win a Cup, you’re not like the rest of the league, where maybe making the playoffs is good enough, or getting in the first round and winning a first round is good enough. They got to continue with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to say the Cup is our ultimate goal, and it’s going to be a really tough summer to try to get that done with the limited cap space and not having the currency to be able to make trades.”
It will be insightful to hear the full statements from Connor McDavid and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers management once they address the media for the final time this season. McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and others recognize that this past season was unsatisfactory, with the team performing at an average level at best. Consequently, significant improvements are needed to ensure Connor McDavid’s long-term commitment to the Edmonton Oilers.
One thing is certain: the discussions surrounding Connor McDavid’s future are only intensifying.