The Edmonton Oilers are now officially on the clock, that is, the Connor McDavid clock. That clock has been ticking for quite some time. But the ticking just got louder following the signing of Minnesota wild star, Kirill Kaprizov.
On Tuesday, Kaprizov signed a mind-shocking, eight-year, $136 million contract. Well, that’s mind-shocking in NHL terms. Anyhow, the conventional wisdom had been that Kaprizov or Connor McDavid’s contract signing would be the next shoe to drop.
Whoever signed first would cascade into the next one. Once Kaprizov set the floor, McDavid would set the ceiling. Every other impending UFA could follow suit. Kaprizov was the first big shoe to drop. Now, it would appear that McDavid should be the next one. In short, the Oilers are out of excuses and need to get a deal done.
If they can’t, the chatter surrounding McDavid’s departure will only get louder. Even if the Oilers captain signs a short-term deal, it has to get done as soon as possible. While it might be a bit precipitated to see it done before the start of the season, certainly one would have to think that the next couple of weeks would suffice for the deal to be completed.
Kaprizov did the Oilers, McDavid a huge favour
Kirill Kaprizov just did the Oilers a favor in a roundabout way. There was a rumor that he wanted to max out the 20 percent cap allocation per contract on his next deal per the current CBA. That would have come out to a $19 million Annual Average Value (AAV).
Guess what, McDavid has also been said to want the same 20 percent cap allocation. That’s $19 million. But if Kaprizov got $19 million AAV, would McDavid demand more?
I don’t mean to paint McDavid as a greedy individual. But frankly, he could demand as much as he wants. And that’s why Kaprizov just cut the Oilers a break. His $17 million AAV is still below the current $19 million threshold. That situation means the Oilers can hike their offer to $19 million.
And voila, there’s your next contract for Connor McDavid.
If McDavid wanted more than $19 million, he would have to wait until next season when the cap officially goes up. Then, he could demand his 20 percent cap allocation based on a $113.5 million cap ceiling instead of the current $95.5 million.
Of course, that situation would mean going through the entire season without re-signing McDavid and waiting till the summer to do it. The optics would be awful, but it would be one way of getting a deal done.
Ultimately, it seems that a short-term deal -- as has been reported recently -- say something like three years, at $19 million, could be the path forward for McDavid. He could revisit his next contract when the cap has gone up even further.
So, Oilers fans have Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild to thank. Getting his contract extension out of the way on October 30 could pave the way for McDavid to sign much sooner than anticipated.