Unresolved contract drama surrounding Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is poised to extend into the start of the season, continuing what is arguably the National Hockey League’s biggest current storyline.
Edmonton will begin the 2025–26 regular season Wednesday at home against the archrival Flames, and McDavid has yet to make a decision about his professional future. The three-time Most Valuable Player is entering the final year of an eight-year, $100 million contract signed in 2017, and has been eligible to sign an extension since July.
After falling each of the last two seasons in the Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers, McDavid has maintained a wait-and-see posture, particularly to see whether Edmonton still is a championship contender.
As that has happened, the Oilers have completed several other contracts as they prepare for the season, including a three-year extension for head coach Kris Knoblauch and another three-year deal with forward Vasily Podkolzin—in turn raising the intensity around the McDavid watch.
“Obviously, there’s other contracts that are much more important than mine with several players,” Knoblauch said, referring in part to the McDavid situation.
Meanwhile, Business Is Booming
In the meantime, the NHL’s salary scale continues to reset itself amid fast-growing revenues across the league and a salary cap reflecting that. The Wild last week signed star winger Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million extension, setting league records for both total and average annual value.
The league’s salary cap, now at $95.5 million for the upcoming 2025–26 season and up from last year’s $88 million, is estimated to jump to $104 million in 2026–27 and $113.5 million in 2027–28. That increase, fueled largely by accelerating revenues in the sport, means that the NHL salary cap will spike by more than 25% over a three-year period.
Any individual player can sign for as much as 20% of a team’s salary cap, meaning that annual salaries of $20 million are soon forthcoming, particularly for players of McDavid’s caliber. Rather than simply max out his personal value, though, it’s also quite possible that McDavid will pursue a more team-friendly, short-term deal to help the Oilers remain competitive—not unlike the route that Sidney Crosby has pursued with the Penguins.
