DONE DEAL: Edmonton Oilers Trades $17,850,000 Million Defenseman To Top Rivals
“100% that Connor McDavid re-signs with Edmonton Oilers”: credible NHL insider predicts
This in from NHL insider Frank Seravalli of The Daily Face-off his prediction that it’s a certainly Connor McDavid will sign a new contract with the Edmonton Oilers next summer.
McDavid has two years left on his $12.5 million per year deal, but can re-up in Edmonton as early as July 1, 2025.
“It’s now a 100 per cent shot that Connor McDavid re-signs with the Edmonton Oilers,” Servalli said to Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now. “Because there is no chance that he’s leaving. I didn’t think there was to begin with. And certainly not now with Leon Draisaitl looked up for the long term…. There’s no way that Leon is signing if there is a chance that Connor is not.”
Folks in Toronto asked him why Edmonton would be able to retain Draisaitl, Servalli said.
His answer?
“Why not the Edmonton Oilers? It’s a franchise steeped in history, a premier place to play, players are treated like princes, and they’ve got some of the best support in the league, bar none, and, oh yeah, by the way they’ve come as close as any team has ever come to winning the Stanley Cup and not getting the job done, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup total… This is exactly what you’re looking for if you’re a player. You can’t ask for anything more.”
My take
1. Seravalli’s credibility when it comes to predictions is at an all-time high in Edmonton just now. A year ago, as many worried that Leon Draisaitl and McDavid might not stay with the Oilers, Seravalli said there’s a 90 per cent chance that the Oilers would bring back both Draisaitl and McDavid on new contracts. Draisaitl signed a new eight-year deal today.
At that time, Seravalli said McDavid and Draisaitl are tight, and Edmonton is the best place for them to play together. “Anyone (in the NHL) would move heaven and earth to get one of them, but how many places could they both do it together? One of them will be able to go somewhere else, or both of them will be able to go to separate places, but where can both of them go at the same time and not have to start all over again?”
It’s not a hard sell to get players to come to Edmonton, Seravalli said at the time, as the Oilers are now one of the five or six authentic Stanley Cup contenders year in, year out.
Seravalli said Oilers owner Daryl Katz had transformed the city, alluding to the new downtown arena district. “I used to go to Edmonton 15 years ago and I know how much different it is now compared to then… It’s the chance to win that’s sucking people in. That punches above its weight class when it comes to all the other things that some may or may not view as negatives, cold, dark, whatever it might be.”
2. More recently in mid-June Seravalli made another bold prediction, and the first part has come to pass with Draisaitl signing with a $14 million per year cap hit.
