The Edmonton Oilers are seemingly at the beck and call of superstar Connor McDavid. The club, while eager to ink their biggest star to a contract extension, is in limbo with little progress in sight.
A September 3 piece in The Athletic from notable NHL insider Pierre LeBrun highlights this situation. In the piece, LeBrun caught up with Oilers GM Stan Bowman. But instead of providing an encouraging update on McDavid’s next contract with the Oilers, Bowman painted a relatively somber picture.
Bowman was quoted as stating:
“You have to approach Connor differently than anyone else because he is different than anyone else. He’s the best player in the world and, as a result, has earned the right to handle this the way he feels right to handle it.”
Indeed, McDavid’s body of work has allowed him to control his fate. But then again, it seems as though McDavid has the Oilers in his hands. Of course, McDavid has said all the right things publicly. But as I’ve pointed out before, his comments seem more like someone coached by lawyers would say during an ongoing investigation.
That situation, nevertheless, has not deterred Bowman from publicly validating the former Hart Trophy winner’s comments:
“I have no reason to doubt anything he said (last week). I take him to his word that he’s focused on winning the Cup in Edmonton. And we feel the same way. It’s just really trying to maintain patience.”
Therein lies the problem: Patience.
McDavid exercises a great deal of it by giving the club time to ice a competitive team. The 28-year-old, after all, has won everything he could win individually. He’s got all the regular-season hardware he could want. He’s even got a Conn Smythe Trophy despite not winning a Stanley Cup.
Bowman summed up this point by stating:
“So I guess the internal feeling is different maybe than what’s swirling on the outside. But I think that’s more out of respect for Connor and being patient with where he’s at.”
But it’s that elusive Cup that has McDavid on the edge of his seat. So, fans will need to channel their innermost patience as the consensus best player in the NHL weighs his options in Oil Country.
Patience with McDavid is a luxury Oilers do not have
It seems like yesterday that the media was buzzing with news about Connor McDavid’s eight-year, $100 million contract. The deal made him the highest-paid player in the NHL. Thus far, it’s been worth it. While some may point out the lack of championships during McDavid’s tenure in Edmonton, that’s not his fault.
It would be silly to pin the lack of a championship solely on the captain’s shoulders. But fast-forward seven years, and the clock has almost struck midnight. The Oilers are practically out of time to bring in a championship to Edmonton.
Boy, the Oilers have tried. There’s no denying that. They have come painfully close to winning one. One lucky bounce here or there, and the Oilers could be the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs, not the Florida Panthers.
In this timeline, unfortunately, Edmonton has one last kick at the can with McDavid in the fold. The team is out of time. If their captain jettisons the club, they’ll have to win without him. Perhaps the Oilers follow the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lead and use up their sudden massive cap space to load up with as many pieces as possible.
That’s little consolation to fans. It seems that the only thing that could keep the Oilers’ best player in the fold will be a Stanley Cup. Another trip to the final won’t cut it. A championship is the only thing to quell the league’s best player’s thirst.