At this point, it seems like the most likely outcome for Connor McDavid at the end of the 2025 NHL season is to sign an eight-year, $120 million contract to return to the Edmonton Oilers.
But what if he doesn’t?
If McDavid decides to leave Edmonton, the NHL world will stand still until he decides his destination.
The greatest player of his generation hasn’t really considered a departure up to this point. But this is the last season on his current contract upcoming, and an extension hasn’t been reached yet.
McDavid will set the NHL’s new annual average value contract record no matter who he signs with.
And Bleacher Report pitches the Toronto Maple Leafs as a possible new home.
Here’s the B/R logic:
“The Maple Leafs already have their own superstar and No. 1 center in Auston Matthews. But if McDavid ever does become available, Toronto would have to find a way to get involved in the bidding.
“After all, how often would Canada’s biggest hockey market have a chance to acquire Canada’s best player? Especially one that was born in the Greater Toronto Area?
“And if the Maple Leafs keep fizzling out in the playoffs, they’ll be under even more pressure to keep making dramatic changes to fix that.
“They could have a dominant 1-2 punch of McDavid and Matthews down the middle, or they could do something bold by trading Matthews for a haul and replacing him with McDavid at the top. That wouldn’t be a very NHL-type of thing for a team to do, but McDavid hitting free agency would likely change plenty of teams’ approach.”
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McDavid and Matthews.
Goodness gracious.
That might break the NHL.
Could you imagine?
Who knows what will happen, but know this: The longer McDavid goes without signing some sort of Oilers deal, the more rampant the speculation will become.
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