The Edmonton Oilers May Lose Connor McDavid Due to Gary Bettman's Money Issues

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Austin Sabourin
February 7, 2023 (4:50 PM)

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Connor McDavid is on a tear this year, already at 92 points with 32 games remaining. He is on his 8th season in the league and has managed to put up 100+ points 5 times, and is going to hit it for his 6th time this year as long as he doesn't suffer a season ending injury.

McDavid career his is currently 123 points which he got in the 2022-23 season and is on pace to destroy that and put up 150 points which hasn't been done since Mario Lemieux did it back in the 90's.

We all know that McDavid is a generational player and they don't come too often, but there is reason to believe that the Oilers might not be able to re-sign McDavid when his contract is up in 2025-26 because his value might be too high.

This is the same issue with Auston Matthews in Toronto, who they likely will not be able to re-sign when his contract expires in 2024.

Jim Matheson predicted above that McDavid would potentially ask for $20 million per year which is expected as he is the best player in the NHL. But will the NHL raise the salary cap before 2025-26 when McDavid's contract is up? Oilers fans can only hope.

Draisaitl is signed until 2024-25 at $8.5 million a year and he's gonna be looking for a pay raise as well, you just wonder how the Oilers are going to afford both of them.