Insider: McDavid Could Wait Until After The Season For Any Extension

The biggest subject around the hockey world continues to be if/when Connor McDavid will sign his extension with the Edmonton Oilers. Pundits, fans, followers and everyone else are trying to decipher what McJesus meant by his comments to the media last week at the Team Canada Olympic Team Orientation Camp. Might he even play out the 2025-26 season without a contract?

The fact that he is taking his time, and will not sign before the regular season begins, according to a hockey insider, has led to many questions.

Frank Seravalli was asked on his Bleacher Report feed this week if the Oilers superstar might even play out the entire season without an extension:

I don't have a crystal ball, but I kinda have some of those similar vibes myself. If you're not signing before the opening of the regular season, what's the impetus, what's the push to sign? I mean, at that point, you could kind of wait until, I don't know, June, May, to figure it out?
Once your season's over, take some time to digest everything and understand the whole process of where things are heading with the Edmonton Oilers. I can understand why the Oilers front office would want to get this done as soon as possible, and I'm sure that they're antsy to do so, but, if you're McDavid, once the start of the season goes by, what's the pull?

Seravalli also revealed that the Oilers captain and team management haven't even discussed any contract numbers yet.

Oilers CEO isn't nervous about McDavid being unsigned as yet

Meanwhile, according to a report by David Staples in the Edmonton Journal, Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson appeared on the Oilers Now podcast to say that he met with McDavid's agent for an hour yesterday, and he's not nervous about the whole situation.

“We’re confident we’re going to get a deal done...It’s not as straightforward sometimes as people would like it to be. He’s just taking his time.”

In addition, Jackson said that his captain is not looking to 'break the bank.'

"He’s not looking at it purely from a, ‘I’m going to break the bank and make as much money as I can' scenario. He wants to find the razor’s edge where he gets paid for the star player that he is, that allows the team to surround himself with the best players that we possibly can, gives us options to do that beyond next year, so all that comes into his thinking.”

Perhaps that means waiting to see how the salary cap situation unfolds as the year goes along, leading into Seravalli's thoughts that he could wait out the season.

It does seem unthinkable that McDavid would want to let this fester throughout the year, though, leading to a never-ending bombardment of questions and stories about his future. That, in itself, could affect the Oilers' season in a very negative way. And it seems unfathomable that he would want that.