Following their first-round exit from the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks, the Edmonton Oilers’ attention turns from the ice to what transpires off it. The spotlight is firmly on number 97, captain Connor McDavid.
As was the case last offseason, McDavid will again be a central figure. This time, the focus isn’t on a contract extension, but rather on how the team will be built around him now that his current extension is in effect. It’s important to recall that he agreed to a team-friendly deal worth $12.5 million per season, but by signing only a two-year contract, he has put management on a tight timeline.
McDavid himself stated after signing, that he remains dedicated to winning in Edmonton and felt a two-year deal made the most sense. As he articulated 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 we’ve observed, General Manager Stan Bowman did not effectively utilize that available cap space. While a more in-depth analysis of this will be reserved for another time, the window for the Oilers to achieve a championship with McDavid on the roster is gradually narrowing. When TSN Hockey Analyst Martin Biron joined Jay Onrait on SportsCenter on Thursday, he was questioned on what Bowman must do to prevent McDavid from departing in two years.
Onrait posed the critical 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?”
Therefore, for the Oilers, if they still aspire to win a cup, they cannot afford to adopt the mindset of the rest of the league, where simply making the playoffs or winning a first-round series might be considered sufficient. They must continue to prioritize the Cup as their ultimate objective alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and it will be an exceptionally challenging offseason to achieve this with limited cap space and a lack of assets for trades.
It will be compelling to hear the full extent of Connor McDavid’s thoughts once he and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers address the media for the final time. McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and others are undoubtedly aware that this past season was not good enough; the team performed at an average level at best. Consequently, significant work is required to ensure Connor McDavid’s continued presence with the Edmonton Oilers.
One thing is certain: the discussion surrounding Connor McDavid is not abating; it is only intensifying.