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Connor McDavid directly answers chance of not signing with Oilers before regular season
Connor McDavid will soon begin Oilers' training camp without a contract extension in place for next season, but the team captain is far from worried.
Reports have surfaced in the last few weeks that McDavid may not even sign before the beginning of the regular season, which has caused rampant outside speculation about his future in Edmonton. Now, McDavid himself is answering the big question.
Connor McDavid directly answers timeline for contract extension with Oilers
In a new interview with Ryan Rishaug of TSN, Connor McDavid bluntly said that entering the season without a contract extension won't be an issue for himself or the Oilers.
Although top Oilers insiders have nearly guaranteed that McDavid will be staying in Edmonton, it's not encouraging to hear that he's comfortable entering the season without a contract. The fact is the Oilers will have major risk with the best player in the NHL as a pending UFA.
Even more concerning, this negotiation hold-up isn't even based off the Oilers' contract offer to their captain.
NHL insider Pierre LeBrun reported that McDavid is going through an internal process to evaluate the team and their future.
He's going through his own internal process with his agent, Judd Moldaver. They aren't going back and forth on numbers and term.
The process is that McDavid has had a number of conversations with Oilers management, but more importantly with his own agent, about what the future holds. What is this team? What does this team look like in a few years?
- Pierre LeBrun
The process is that McDavid has had a number of conversations with Oilers management, but more importantly with his own agent, about what the future holds. What is this team? What does this team look like in a few years?
- Pierre LeBrun
At the moment, it doesn't seem like McDavid is fully confident in the future of the Oilers - otherwise a deal would've been done already.
They're still clearly one of the top contending teams, but more needs to be done to convince McDavid the Oilers can contend beyond next year.
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