The big question on everyone’s mind is will Connor McDavid leave the Edmonton Oilers?
With the Oilers losing for the second consecutive year in the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, speculation about McDavid’s future has run rampant.
McDavid will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026 and when asked about his future in Edmonton, he did not fully commit to the idea of staying with the Oilers long-term.
“Winning would be at the top of the list,” McDavid said when addressing his future. “Winning is the most important thing. If I think there's a good window to win here, over and over again, then signing is no problem... I'm not in a rush to make any decision. So I don't think there needs to be any timeline. I know people are going to look at that July 1 day and be looking to see if there's anything done but for me I'm just not in a rush that way.”
Between the Oilers’ lackluster goaltending, shaky defensive core, and unreliable forward group, the team let McDavid down, which has been a common theme in Edmonton.
The 28-year-old is expected to receive the richest contract in NHL history and if he does decide he isn’t willing to sign a contract extension with the Oilers this summer, a boatload of teams will be eager to acquire him via trade and do whatever it takes to bring him on board.
One of those teams that make the most sense for McDavid’s services are the New York Rangers.
For the past year, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury has been attempting to clear cap space and re-shape the team’s core and he’s been pretty successful thus far to an extent.
Drury has managed to offload Barclay Goodrow, Jacob Trouba, and Chris Kreider’s contracts without retaining any of their salaries.
Clearly, Drury is gearing up for something monumental as he’s clearing up as much cap space as possible to potentially make a big splash.
The ultimate splash would be McDavid.
The Rangers have always been a team known to attract big-time stars. The draw of putting on the Blueshirts uniform and playing at Madison Square Garden is certainly exhilarating just to think about. There’s no bigger stage than that.
We’ve seen it in the past. The Rangers went out and acquired Mark Messier, which led to a Stanley Cup victory, signed Wayne Gretzky during the twilight of his career, and landed Artemi Panarin when he was a free agent in 2019.
On top of the attraction of The Big Apple, the Rangers have assets to both compete for a Stanley Cup and trade for McDavid.
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If the Oilers want to trade for a contending package, the Rangers have a few established veteran stars to offer them and if they are looking for younger players to start a rebuild with, the Blueshirts could also put together an enticing package.
Drury hasn’t been satisfied with the Rangers’ core for a long time and if McDavid is available, all the stars align for Drury to swoop in and finally show that he had a vision when tearing down the team’s leadership group in order to clear cap space.
“It's only been a couple days since the season ended,” McDavid said. “Take some time to regroup, talk to my agent a little bit, family and all that and make some decisions whenever that time comes. But there's no rush on anything like that.”
It’s just a pipe dream for now, things could develop quickly over the next few weeks as McDavid sorts out his future and the rest of the NHL should keep their eyes peeled to this situation.