McDavid says new contract with Oilers ‘about winning’

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid said his new contract with the Edmonton Oilers is about putting the team first in the quest to win the Stanley Cup.

The Oilers captain took his time deciding his future beyond this season and settled on a direction he felt was best for team success, signing a two-year, $25 million contract Monday that begins with the 2026-27 season.

With an average annual value of $12.5 million, it is a price tag far below what is considered market value for the center.

“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,” McDavid said Tuesday. “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. I think the deal makes sense to both sides.”

The contract keeps Edmonton’s championship window open for at least another three seasons and affords the Oilers space under the NHL salary cap to make adjustments to the roster if necessary.

Edmonton made it to the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons, losing to the Florida Panthers on both occasions, and is again considered a championship contender.

“It gives the core guys that have been here a really long time and guys in this room that have come here, a chance to be a part of something special,” McDavid said of the two-year term. “It gives us a chance to play that out and that’s important to me, obviously.”

McDavid is in the last season of an eight-year, $100 million contract ($12.5 million AAV) he signed July 5, 2017.

Though there was an expectation that the 28-year-old would sign a shorter-term deal with his next contract, the fact that he didn’t get a raise took nearly everyone by surprise.

“I guess it’s a unique situation,” McDavid said. “We weren’t going to sign a long-term deal, so two years at that number makes a lot of sense. It gives us a chance to extend our window here in Edmonton. [My dog] Lenny is not going to go hungry with that money, so we’ll be fine. It’s about winning and that’s always what I preached, and I think this deal gives both sides what we’re looking for.”

McDavid has accomplished nearly everything there is to achieve individually since entering the League in 2015-16 after being selected No. 1 by the Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft.

He has won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player three times (2016-17, 2020-21, 2022-23); the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player, as voted by the NHL Players Association, four times (2016-17, 2017-18, 2020-21, 2022-23); and the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer five times (2016-17, 2017-18, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23). He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024 despite Edmonton losing the Cup Final in seven games.

All that’s left for him is to help bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

“Obviously the city and the fans are important to us and we want to win here,” McDavid said. “We want to bring it back here and make our city proud. But it’s mostly for the guys in this room. We’ve been through a lot together and to see it through together is important.

“I think everybody understands the situation in this room and the situation this organization is in. We want to win. If it lends urgency, that’s a good byproduct.”

The unselfish act of signing for less than market value to try to win reverberated around the League.

“For him it’s all about winning and setting himself up for the best opportunity to do that,” Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews said Tuesday. “In my time around him that’s the main thing he wants to do. It’s what everybody wants to do is to win, and he’s as committed as anybody.”

Widely considered the best offensive player in the NHL for the past 10 seasons, McDavid won’t be the highest paid player the next three seasons.

Teammate Leon Draisaitl is entering the first season of an eight-year, $112 million contract ($14 million AAV) he signed with Edmonton on Sept. 3, 2024. Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov signed an eight-year, $136 million contract ($17 million AAV) last Tuesday that, like McDavid’s new contract, begins next season.

“Obviously we’re very excited,” Draisaitl said. “Every negotiation is its own project, is its own time, but for us as an organization, he’s the heart and soul of our group and our team. Getting the chance to chase it down for three more years at least is obviously amazing.”

To Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, it was not out of character for McDavid to put the needs of the team ahead of his own. He became aware of McDavid’s leadership qualities when they were both with Erie of the Ontario Hockey League more than a decade ago.

“There was a lot of noise about what Connor wants to do, does he want to leave? And I think he obviously put a lot of thought into it,” Knoblauch said. “But his commitment is 100 percent to the Edmonton Oilers and the city of Edmonton. I think he’s put our team in a good situation to be successful and do the things we have to do to adjust our team. That says a lot about Connor.”

With McDavid signed, the Oilers can turn all their attention to the upcoming season, which they’ll begin against the Calgary Flames at home on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN).

McDavid wanted to announce his new contract before the puck dropped officially on the season.

“I think not wanting to be a distraction plays a factor,” McDavid said. “It’s a lot for guys to have to come in here and answer questions for other guys, the coach to get asked about it, the GM to get asked about it every day.

“It’s nice to get it out of the way. Nobody has to talk about it anymore. That obviously plays a factor, and then obviously myself not wanting to answer the question, and giving the Oilers some clarity on what’s going to go down.”

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report