The regular season is just hours away, and the Edmonton Oilers are reaching a pressure point in two areas. First, the final roster for opening night appears to involve paper transactions for a couple of waiver ineligible players that will see them sent down to the Bakersfield Condors today. Once the team is compliant, the season will officially begin. At that point, those players will be recalled and the Oilers will have the desired roster moving forward.
I was pleased to see the move by Kris Knoblauch involving Matt Savoie. Skill needs skill and Savoie is the most naturally talented healthy right winger on the roster. Playing him with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins makes sense to me, with Andrew Mangiapane as the other winger. Dandy landing spot for a rookie, plenty of wisdom on that line.
Lots of waiver intrigue today, as a flood of names hit the wire. I imagine there wil be claims, but it would seem to be a distant bell happening for the Oilers. We’ll see.
The big news all are waiting for is the Connor McDavid contract update. Elliotte Friedman mentioned on 32 Thoughts today he thinks the organization will receive an update from the captain before opening night. Does that mean a contract? Does it mean McDavid will confirm this is his last season?
I think it’s good to have clarity before the season. I think it’s fair. McDavid has every right to make his best decision and not be rushed. It will become a distraction without clarity.
If he decides this is his final year, it will become difficult for management and the coaching staff to keep things rolling in some kind of rational order. However, not knowing, in my opinion, would be even more unbearable. for all involved. Sticky wicket. Not fair to any party, but this is a business and McDavid has a right to pursue his dreams and hopes. It’s possible those things have changed in recent years.
We all grow as humans, especially in our 20’s. The Beatles broke up, and people blamed the wives. These men were getting married, had solo projects in the works and may well have been bored with the entire process. John Lennon didn’t like what George Martin did with his songs. George Harrison was writing at a furious clip, far more than two songs an album. It was time.
Maybe it’s Connor McDavid’s time. That’s his right and I respect it. I wish him Godspeed no matter his decision.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll hear from Rachel Kryshak, CTO of Betalytics and ESPN contributor. We’ll also chat to Jason Gregor. McDavid, waivers, Blue Jays, NFL weekend, we’ll have it all. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
New for The Athletic: How Edmonton Oilers could approach waiver wire ahead of regular season
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6691491/2025/10/06/edmonton-oilers-waivers-wire-2025/
The Regula get. This will be fun to watch as it plays out.
One more move needed for Opening Day roster. I expect Stecher likely to go down or be traded. slightly less likely to me would be Emberson. Regula is staying, in my mind.
Dangle’s head is probably going to explode on the SDP today.
Connor is such an absolute beauty!!!! Jack Eichel is probably the opposite of happy about this.
Two years until Nurse’s contractual clauses loosen.
At that point the Oilers should be able to afford a top-drawer UFA, helping encourage McDavid to sign a 4th contract with the Oil Drop.
Not a lot of talk about the Walman contract. This was my expectation for a 7×7. Wish it was a little less but in this cap environment it is a tidy piece of work. Hope we can get Ekholm extended for cheap
Ok, allow me to post the stupidest comment of the day. What will the PA have to say about this lowballing of a contract and could it actually invite crazies to try and hurt him.
More players will be making more money on the Oilers because he took less. Guys like Walman should be shaking his hand for giving the team room to give him generational wealth.
Hard cap system changes the chemistry a bit.
Honestly, I’ve never understood the PA pushing the superstars to go max in a salary cap situation. The PA is for ALL players, and obviously with a cap there’s only so much to go around so it would actually benefit the MAJORITY of players if the cap is divvied up more evenly. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
That’s right. Player maximum salary has already been negotiated (20% of team cap, if I recall correctly), as has the league-wide salary cap. It’s a fixed pot, so if McDavid takes less money, that’s more for other union members. I suspect the PA likes this deal because it counters increasing salary stratification (Kaprizov types vs fourth line scrubs making league minimum) that poses a threat to union solidarity-just the kind of fracture ownership loves to exploit. It’s good for the union.
The NHLPA can eat a big steaming… disappointing meal. They don’t protect him or other stars. He doesn’t owe it to the NHLPA to max out his contract and hurt his chances of winning a cup. The fact that this could upset the NHLPA makes the signing even sweeter.
Without the NHLPA owners would still take your money and your heroes would have nothing.
Haven’t commented since last season. What a great day.
Wow! Unbelievable. True to his word, all Connor cares about is winning. Whatever happens in three years time this man has done everything he can for the organization and city.
Legend.
When this is announced, and McDavid answers questions, I fully expect a “Well, he’s been better than me lately” from him when asked about Leon making more cash.
Half joke, half legit.
I think this was a part of 97s plan.
When you’re the greatest player on the planet, and you’re in a union, theres divergent things to consider. Doing your part to raise the earning potential of your union brothers, at the very minimum not setting a false ceiling. Secondly considering what affect your contract has on your chances to win.
McDavid obviously could not sign for 12.5 in August. The only reasonable assumption imo, is that this was his intention all along.
Stan Bowman was just given a gift from a friend of the family, and the weight of every dollar takes new significance. He’s not spending company money, he’s spending gifted money from someone who sacrificed millions.
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That McDavid played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q
“Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?”
Good one… and you beat me to it! Cheers!
Jack Campbell’s dead cap space looms larger than ever next season. $25M in cap space next year with 10 forwards, 4 defensemen an 0 goalies signed.
How could this be your take away after getting the best player in hockey for at least a $4 million discount? Lol
That’s what I was getting at. Spend the money wisely to ensure that he stays past these two years. I just mentioned that Campbell’s buyout looms as Bowman has to fill out the roster.
CapWages
@CapWages
Connor McDavid signed a 2 x $12.5M extension with the Edmonton Oilers.
After the Walman signing (7x7M), the Oilers will now have $22.5M in cap space for next season.
Ya, really weird takeaway.
Man, Connor barely even cracking the top 5 highest paid players is astonishing and beyond my wildest expectations and as much as longer term would have been nice I like the two years in the sense of totally putting the ball in the franchises court without handcuffing them financially. This essentially wipes out Nurses overpay.
Any word on the other details on the contract? I’m assuming a full NMC, but the other ultimate unselfish act would be for him to have a partial NMC in case he decides to move on in three years the team has options?
Anyways, such great news. Thank you Connor!
It is kind of hilarious watching commentators twist themselves into knots over this.
He will make more money by doing things this way, and gets what he wants out of it.
Thats called having a good agent and choosing your path.
That is if he stays Hockey healthy. It’s crazy to think that Bobby Orr was done at 30.
I can think of no better way as a distantly living fan to show my appreciation than to get a mcd jersey with the number 12.5 instead of 97. Who is with me? Let’s make this a thing!
Before we fully analyze the McDavid extension, we need to see if there is a full no movement clause.
It would be shocking if there was anything other than a full NMC. The organization will give Connor what ever he wants, why wouldn’t he keep full control of where he plays.
I think OP just made a joke. 🙂
🤦
Confirmed, it was intended to be a funnie……
Haha. Thanks for this. 🙂
Will be fun listening to the Toronto media/personalities discuss this one.
Copium will be strong for 5 seconds then they’ll go back to yapping about the Jays.
I’m having so much fun in leaf nation winding them up:
— “oil making cap room to bring on Matthews whose buddies with CmD”
— “I’m hearing Leafs went hard for him and he wanted no part of playing for leafs”
So much fun
I also think that he waited knowing what he wanted to do to give the other guys waiting a chance to get deals not based on his deal. He wasn’t going into the season not signing, so Kaprizov scored and the others now have perhaps lost a bit of leverage
Amazing
McDavid waiting so long to sign a massive value contract could be for many reasons. Do you really think this was his plan the whole time are do you think it’s possible he might of had a change of heart where as Captain he started feeling the distraction this was having on the team and his legacy.
This is 100% as expected.
They will submit their opening roster like this, then they’ll place Hyman on LTIR, send down Hamblin and re-call Tomasek and Howard!
Wow. !! I was of two kinds on Connor. We all have our takes, for me if he would have dragged it out till spring, especially if he walked, I would have lost respect. Many wouldn’t, I would
I I thought he would sign, but not at his current cap. The chatter about it being less than expected I thought meant 15 or 16. Now my respect is even higher. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Man
We are so lucky as hockey fans. I believe Bowman is up to this now that’s it’s in his court, but the pressure is on
The wedding rings meme I think was spot on. Not only matching, but what this means is he recognizes that Leon has been as valuable to the team and what they’ve done as he has been. I think this means Connor wants Leon to catch up to him somewhat in earnings having been on that value contract
That Leon deal meant the team got world class play with extra cap space, well below market value. Now Connor is giving the well below market, which gives Bowman some folding money, and Leon gets a more fair deal, which is still below market
Bravo Duo. Pure class
Minds not kinds
START THE CAR!!!!!!!
LOL reading the first few points in this comments today from before McDavid signed.
Looking forward to reading through the rest of the posts to see if there are any “apologies” for the character assassination some put on McDavid.
What character assassination took place? No one called him a bad guy, no one said he wasn’t generational.. Wait.. No one was saying anything other then it will be a circus and the Oilers need to do what’s best for the team.
No apologies are needed, folks talking hockey.
— Does he have an “uncle Tony” that’s arranging a special vehicle entity ?
— the math on this going forward is stunning : basically 2-3 $6mm dollar players for “free” they can get …
Great day in Oilers country. Thank you Connor, thank you Lauren. Now the only wish for us all, is to see that picture of Connor raising that illusive 1st Cup over his head, followed by a couple more… oh what a day that will be! Break out the scotch, break out the ganja, a celebration awaits.
LET’S GO OILERS, LET’S GO!!!
This is out of the realm of reasonable possibility.
I think we all knew he wasn’t going to demand the max, even though he could get it.
Anything $16MM and under would be a big discount, even before Kaprizov signed.
Small chance it would come in near Leon’s $14MM but, $12.5MM? That is out of the realm of reasonableness.
My goodness!
As my wife texted me: “Hopefully people will shut the Fu@k up now!”
I was hoping he might, by some fluke match Drai at 14M — this is bizarro.
This was my thought too. The new reality is astonishing.
“Hopefully people will shut the Fu@k up now!”
and I pray that it is so. So very (very) tired of the pointless worrying and projecting around McD and this contract.
better sit back enjoy these years
Hmm, well not bad as a day goes.
Great deal for the Oilers. Still don’t like that it feels like an inevitable exit.
Amazing news. Obviously, you want Connor as long as you can go, but you can’t argue the price. Holy moly.
Also, when his contract is up:
-Nuge’s last year and his 35 year old season. Hate to think of it, but a buyout at that time could be good business. He’ll still have a full NMC.
-Nurse will be tradeable. He’s buyout proof, but will only have a 10-team no-trade.
-Drai still has 2 years on his deal
-Hyman’s contract is done. Love him, but what kind of player is he in 3 years at 36?
-Podkolzin (27) and Frederic (30) are the only other forwards currently under contract
-Howard and Savoie are 24 (the former just ending his ELC)
-Bouchard is under contract and in his prime
Draw should have more than 2 years left. His extension kicks in this year.
You’re right. I was on puckpedia and just saw the UFA thing after the 29/30 season, but didn’t notice the “2033” under it. I guess the chart only goes to 29/30. Frederic expires the same time.
Another plus is that Campbell’s buyout penalty, while still there, is “only” $1.5M compared to the $2.3M and $2.6M we’re carrying this year and next
Connor bridged the Oilers in a prove it deal.
Some may think “what’s a few million for guys who are already that rich”, but to leave $100+ million on the table and hope things are still hunky dory in 2 or 3 years is incredibly bold imo.
#neverindoubt
The official release:
https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/release-oilers-sign-mcdavid-to-two-year-extension
Is there an over under on when FibonaHHi will spin this into a catastrophe for the Oilers?
Hmmmm….
JFresh
@JFreshHockey
Hearing that McDavid was on the phone with Mitch + Paul Marner last night where they convinced him to stay in Edmonton instead of going to Toronto. Very emotional conversation, apparently. https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f9e1.svghttps://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f499.svg
Your link is broken.
This is real, I was on the call with all three of them.
I was in tears.
I heard the convo actually happened in a Cactus Club.
Yep. I was their waiter. Sat down with them while they were discussing it. Had some of Mitch’s fries.
Mitch’s new teammates will be disappointed he did this. Hope they don’t find out.
OK, who here had McDavid with a ZERO % pay increase?
The owner might as well pick up the salaries of the analytics team 97 is going to need to ensure the free cap is spent well
I had 9.7, but it wasn’t really serious. Just an imagine if.
Wanted longer term, but that’s already 2 more years of a 12.5 M cap than anyone could reasonably ask for.
Brilliant setup for extending again or moving on next time.
Like people in the media were positive it would be higher than Kiril. I am glad he signed after Kiril. Guerin must be so mad.
Wonder what LT will write about tomorrow?
9 plus million left in the table, that’s a ‘money where your mouth is’ contract if I’ve ever seen one. Way to go Connor!
^^^ this, so much this.
Congrats to McDavid and his family, to Bowman and the Oilers. Now go get that Cup!
If I’m an Oiler player, I look at what Connor has done for the team and think, “I’m going to do every single thing in my power to help him win a cup. I’m going to get on the right side of the puck every time, I won’t miss a detail, if it’s Game 7 in the finals I’ll block a puck with my privates (the old Matt Hendricks play), I’ll do whatever it takes to help my captain achieve Lord Stanley.”
Go get the man a goalie already. He put them on the clock. Good for him. A prudent decision both for his legacy and his future finances.
The amount of money Connor left on the table could pay for a strong starting goaltender…
The Oilers are cup favorites as we speak right now. Great chance to win it all.
Then, regardless of what happens this season, the best player in the world – right as the cap jumps to 107 million is staying at 12.5 million, just as the team has a bunch of money coming off the books. All the room in the world to immediately re-tool and bring in even more studs. Following that, if all goes according to plan, 2 more years to try and win it all again and again.
Business is about to pick up. Buckle up and enjoy the ride, all or nothing, 3 years to try to win at least one, if not more. Let’s go!
Also hear Walman at 7 x $7m
No raise, that’ll be 11% of the cap in 2 years. Ridiculous discount he’s given them.
Great day to be an Oiler fan, bad day to be the Irish Whiskey on the top shelf.
12.5 x 2 years. Holy discount Batman. Oilers better put this to good use!!
Time to find a goaltender.
Time for you to find your way back to the Ducks fan blog or whichever team you’re cheering for atm!
Maybe they already have him in Ingram who should get a opportunity once Skinner-Pickard can’t nudge that save percentage over .900 a month into the season.
It is possible. but he’s been up and down.
A more reliable starter would be preferable.
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
·
2m
2 x $12.5M for McDavid
WHAT THE ACTUAL F
3 years to win a cup, he’s doing the organization a huge favor before he leaves. I can respect that
Holy crap!!! What a guy. And if NHL or players association gets POed, tough. Where were they when all the Panthers signed under market.
I think they got PDO’ed
My first thought, does this create enough space for the team to bring in Crosby after McDavid makes sweet love with him at the Olympics?
Huge surprise! That’s crazy. 🤪
wooot to Mcdavid. There was no way this was going to get dragged on into the season.
Wish it was longer.
i would have lost it if his agent cosplaying as GM for a few months lost us Mcdavid
From his point of view keeps his options open down the road if he wants to move on, and at that point can still sign a massive deal.
2 years x 12.5 million per Oilers Twitter
Holy.
Sorry, “X” account.
Ryan Rishaug
@TSNRyanRishaug
·
14s
Hearing sub 14m for 97
WOW WOW
Keep the updates coming for the only guy in earth without social media.
Ryan Rishaug
@TSNRyanRishaug
·
1m
2 years for 97
Short deal but a lot of $$$ coming off the books after this season. Chance to really re-load.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
·
31s
Connor McDavid extension, per sources: The short term dela will carry an AAV less than $15M
WOW.
Must be a 1-2 year deal.