Insider Projects Connor McDavid AAV & Term in Latest Extension Update

Connor McDavid extension talks are about to ramp up with the Oilers

Edmonton Oilers fans continue to wait, with bated breath, on the situation with Connor McDavid and his potential extension. He's been eligible for one for about six weeks now, but still crickets.

Insider Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report has now checked in to try to calm the masses in Edmonton with this report:

Should people be nervous? I don't think so... My understanding is that numbers haven't even been exchanged yet... And yet there doesn't seem to be any hint of nerves or panic or fear from either the Edmonton Oilers side or the McDavid side, from what I can tell. I'd expect, in relatively short order here, whether it's in the next week or two, that process will begin to ramp up...
The way it's been explained to me is, the minute Connor McDavid lifts his head off the pillow and decides he wants to have a contract extension done, that's the day that it'll happen... There's not really much of a negotiation here. This is the best player in the world, naming his price.

But what will that price be? McDavid's current $12.5 million AAV represented 15.72% of the cap in the first year of the contract in 2018. If he were to ask for that same percentage this time around, with a $104 million salary cap when this new extension kicks in in 2026-27, it would be a $16.35 million AAV. Seravalli projects that McDavid will be looking for something in that range, or a little north of it, but it's the term that will be the most interesting:

What will Connor McDavid's extension look like?

"If I had to peg where this will ultimately land, I predict it would be somewhere between $16M and $17.5 million dollars a year, for four years."

His superstar teammate Leon Draisaitl re-upped on an eight-year extension last September, that kicks in this coming season, with a $14 million AAV.

The Oilers have been runners-up for the Stanley Cup the past two years, coming as close as one goal in 2024, and then coming up short against the Florida Panthers again in the Finals this year. McDavid will give it another go in Oil Country, and the team will have about four years to make it worth his while.

The Chosen One missed a chunk of time last season, but still cracked the 100-point mark for the 8th time in the last nine years, finishing with 26 goals and 74 assists in just 67 games. He then led the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring, for the 3rd time in four years, with 33 points in 22 games.