The Edmonton Oilers are ready to begin contract extension talks with Connor McDavid but are waiting for the captain to signal he’s prepared to negotiate.
“We’re very eager to do that whenever they’re ready,” general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday, according to Derek Van Diest of NHL.com.
“I think Connor has earned the right to choose when he wants to get into the details of it, and we’re ready right now; he knows that. He’s right that July 1 is a date where we can officially sign him to a contract, but besides that, it’s just another date, and it doesn’t really change the process at all.”
McDavid said at his end-of-season press conference in June that he would take time to speak with his agent and family before discussing an extension.
The talks haven’t begun yet.
“We haven’t talked to him at all about his contract,” Bowman added. “It’s really just been talking to him about our team and how we can improve and what he sees and that kind of stuff. So, the conversations haven’t even started as far as a contract.”
McDavid is entering the final season of an eight-year, $100-million deal he signed in 2017. The 28-year-old center is scheduled to become a pending unrestricted free agent in 2026.
He’s spent his entire 10-year NHL career with Edmonton after being drafted first overall in 2015.
The Oilers are coming off another Stanley Cup Final loss to the Florida Panthers. It’s the second straight season McDavid fell short of winning his first championship.
Several key players will hit unrestricted free agency Tuesday. Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen, Derek Ryan, and John Klingberg are all pending unrestricted free agents.
Evan Bouchard is set to become a restricted free agent. The 25-year-old defenseman led Edmonton in ice time last season.
McDavid has won three Hart Trophies since entering entering the league. He’s recorded 361 goals and 721 assists in 712 career regular-season games.
