McDavid’s contract dominates NHL talk

- By Bruce Penton

September 19, 2025

key points from this story:

• McDavid enters final contract year.
• Extension affects Oilers and entire NHL.
• Salary cap rise offers options, limits.
• Players’ Association wary of discount deal.
• Stanley Cup remains McDavid’s main goal.
• Edmonton fans await decision anxiously.

September is baseball and football season but in Canada, hockey is a 12-month-a-year deal, so no one should be surprised that one of the hottest sports story today — other than Blue Jays’ mania — is about Connor McDavid and ‘will he or won’t he’ sign a contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. Without an extension, the world’s best player will play the 2025-26 season on the final year of an eight-year, $100 million contract he signed in 2017. But other than stating the obvious cliche that he wants to make sure his next contract is best for him and his family — it will be, no matter how much money is involved — his contract situation will have huge implications around the National Hockey League.