Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is not paying much attention to impending contract talks with the team.
Following Leon Draisaitl inking a massive eight-year extension with the Oilers, all the attention will now shift over to McDavid, who has two seasons remaining on his current deal. McDavid will be eligible to sign an extension with the team as soon as next summer.
The 27-year-old is back in the Alberta capital, taking part in a few captain’s skates with his teammates before training camp officially opens. In his first meeting with the media, the question of his next contract came up quickly.
“It’s something I am not going to worry about or really deal with,” McDavid said. “I’m worried about this year; I’m worried about being ready for the season, both myself and the group.
“That stuff takes care of itself… it’s not something I’m worried about.”
It’s been a busy offseason and a shorter-than-usual one for the Oilers superstar. Edmonton went the distance in the playoffs, playing into mid-June in what was a heartbreaking loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
McDavid then tied the knot with his new wife, Lauren, in July with a lavish ceremony. In the meantime, the Oilers as a team made quite a few changes to their roster, most notably up front with the additions of Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner.
It sounds like McDavid is a fan of the work that Jeff Jackson and Oilers GM Stan Bowman got done.
“We got better in a lot of areas, and a lot of areas have changed,” McDavid told reporters. “I love the additions that we made; I think we’ll miss a lot of the guys we lost, but with that being said, that’s the NHL.
“There are lots of good players in this organization and a chance for guys to show what they have.”
Similar to last season, this one will be yet another cup-or-best-type year for the Oilers. The best-case scenario for the team would be to win the Stanley Cup this season, which would help convince McDavid to sign on with a long-term extension.
With Draisaitl now locked in with the team for the next nine seasons, McDavid and defenceman Evan Bouchard are the only core players still needing extensions beyond their existing deals.
McDavid does have some time left on his contract, but Bouchard is set to expire next summer.
While the focus is solely on the on-ice product, the narrative surrounding McDavid’s contract will continue to linger into next summer.