Connor McDavid to the New York Rangers? | Is It Really Possible? What would it take?

Connor McDavid to the New York Rangers? | Is It Really Possible? What would it take?

Conor McDavid is set to become a free agent after this upcoming season, and we tell you why the Rangers must be prepared to make a run. You’re Locked on the New York Rangers, your daily podcast on the New York Rangers, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome back Blue Shirts fans to episode number 1364 of the Locked On New York Rangers podcast. I’m your host John Czech. Just want to thank you guys as always for making locked on New York Raiders your first listen every day. We are free and available on all platforms including YouTube. And today’s episode of Lockdown New York Rangers is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off of your first year. and we are of course part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. So yeah, this is going to be a fun one. We’re going to basically just uh kick around some ideas uh look at the possibility of Conor McDavid not only leaving the Edmonton Oilers, which would be a massive story in its own right, but actually leaving Edmonton for the bright lights of Broadway and becoming the next member of the New York Rangers next off seasonason. Now, let me say right off the top of the show here that if I was going to make a prediction as far as what McDavid was going to do, I still lean toward him staying at Edmonton. We’ll get into some of the reasons why I think that’ll happen in just a minute. But I also have come to learn, you know, being a sports fan for as long as I have and and some of you have been watching sports for even longer than I have, you can never say never when it comes to situations like this. And the idea of Conor McDavid becoming a free agent, regardless of where he might go, is obviously very eye opening. it it’s very noteworthy for not even just hockey fans. I mean, this is the kind of thing that will get, you know, some mainstream buzz as well. And I I think it will be good for the NHL. Hopefully, uh, McDavid can make it interesting for all of us and actually uh make it to free agency next summer. But again, as far as the Rangers chances, I do think it’s a little bit of a long shot. I couldn’t put the percentage any higher than maybe like 15 20 maybe. You know, I think that’s probably about where it is, but it certainly cannot be ruled out either. There was a quote that kind of got my attention. Obviously, you know, looking to put this episode together, doing some homework, looking at everything that McDavid’s been saying and where any potential contract negotiations are between McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. This is what McDavid said at the end of this past season once they got uh eliminated in the Stanley Cup final by the Edmonton Oilers. This is what McDavid said. This core has been together for a long time and we’ve been building to this moment all along. The work that goes on behind the scenes, the conversations, the endless disappointments, and some good times along the way. Obviously, we’re all in this together, trying to get it over that finish line. And then this is where it gets interesting. The quote continues, “With that being said, ultimately I still need to do what’s best for me and my family. That’s who you have to take care of first.” So, McDavid after the end of this past season, and of course, he is under contract one more season with the Edmonton Oilers, but seemed to be at least somewhat non-committal in anything that’s going to be happening as far as where he’s going to be playing after this upcoming season when his contract will expire. Now, it’s entirely possible McDavid is essentially just playing the game here. He might be keeping his cards close to the vest for a couple of different reasons. One of them being that it could put some pressure on the Oilers front office to, you know, bring in some good players, some complimentary players that McDavid approves of andor the Oilers feel can get them over the finish line and actually deliver them a Stanley Cup in this upcoming season. The other reason is very simply make the Oilers front office squirm at least a little bit. Let them know that, you know, you’re going to have to pony up the dough to keep me here. And I think anybody that signs McDavid, whether it’s the Oilers or anybody else, they’re very well aware of that fact. This is somebody that is guaranteed to become the highest paid player at least per season in NHL history. And we’ll dive into the financials a little bit later. We’ll talk about the Rangers salary cap situation and if they could even afford Conor McDavid. But if you’re the Rangers, it’s not going to be easy to get this done under any circumstances, even if McDavid does make it to free agency. But I still feel that you have to do everything in your power to at least give yourselves a chance. And to do that, there’s a couple of things I put together, a little checklist here, things that the Raiders must do if they’re going to have any shot at landing McDavid? And of course, the ultimate X factor is, does McDavid resign with the Oilers before he becomes a free agent next July 1? And if he does, well, then all of this has moved. But for the time being, McDavid’s only under contract for one more year. And it’s fun to dive into some of these hypotheticals in the offseason, and there’s no hypothetical any bigger than this. So, first and foremost, if you’re the Rangers, you’re going to have to convince McDavid that this is a place that you want to play. Simple as that. Um, you know, that being a New York Ranger is still a big deal. That the locker room has stabilized and guys in that locker room have their heads on straight. We cannot say that for this past season’s Ranger team. There were a lot of guys that just didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing. Didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there. It was a disaster the season of a season. We don’t have to get into all the details there, but you guys certainly know what I’m talking about. anybody that watched this team last year. And you also have to convince McDavid that this is a team that is set up for success in the short term as well as the long term. And that kind of leads me into the next thing that the Rangers need to do here. The Raiders, if they’re going to have any hope of letting Conor McDavid, if he becomes a free agent next summer, then they are certainly going to have to play a hell of a lot better this upcoming season than they did in the previous one. Because if the Raiders go through this upcoming season, they’re kind of just going through the motions again and they didn’t want to play for Lavlet and now they don’t want to play for Sullivan and nobody really seems to have their head in the game and there’s mental mistakes and there’s all kinds of problems and the locker room is a mess and the players don’t respond to their new head coach and they miss the playoffs for the second straight season, then you can pretty much forget about Conor McDavid coming to the New York Rangers. Now, on one hand, I mean, I I guess you could make the argument that he sees it as a challenge and I’m going to turn things around there and this that and the other thing, but on the other hand, do you really want to walk into that dumpster fire? Because if it’s as bad this upcoming season for the Rangers as it was the one prior, then that’s exactly what it would be. It’s a dumpster fire. And look, I mean, McDavid, he’s with the Oilers right now. They’ve been close. He’s got his his buddy Leandre’s idol there. He’s playing with one of the best players in the game. And obviously, you know, that there’s been talk about unfinished business there from McDavid and others. There’s no reason why he would leave from a comfortable situation such as that to go to the New New York Rangers. I I just don’t see that really making any sense. And I think for McDavid to even consider coming to the Rangers, you’re going to need to show him that this team is in a much better place going forward than it certainly was this past season. If that doesn’t happen, if the whole season is a mess again, then you can forget about Conor McDavid coming here. even if he leaves the Oilers, I think at that point he would probably prefer uh going somewhere else rather than than coming here. Uh I do want to throw this out there though. McDavid did sound frustrated uh after the cup final this year. You know, they lose to the Panthers in the finals for the second straight season. And he said something along the lines in the immediate aftermath, I think this is on the night of game six if I’m not mistaken. Uh he basically said, “We kept trying the same bleep over and over again.” And some people thought that that was a little bit of a pot shot at Chris Knoblock and the Oilers coaching staff and maybe he’s discontent. Maybe he’s not as happy there as we all think that he was. So if you’re the Rainers and the Oilers come close again, but no cigar, they can’t win a Stanley Cup, you can kind of play off of that at least a little bit that it’s time for a change of scenery. You could kind of mention that to McDavid in your sales pitch or whatever you want to call it. I think also something that would certainly be part of the pitch here as far as trying to lure McDavid to the New York Rangers, the captaincy. Right now, the Rangers do not have a captain. And I’m not going to sit here and say that the only reason that the Rangers have not named a captain going into this upcoming season, at least not yet, is because they want to save it for Conor McDavid. That sounds like a little bit of a stretch. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, though. You know, there’s a couple of things to consider here. First of all, you’ve got a first year head coach in Mike Sullivan. So, just like what was the case with Gerard Galant, I get the feeling that it could be a similar situation here with Sullivan. They’re new to the team. They’re getting to know these players. They’re watching them interact with each other. Okay, who are the true leaders in this locker room? Who do these guys gravitate to? And then maybe I’ll name a captain going into year two. That’s what happened with Jorah Galant. And I think something similar could happen with Mike Sullivan. So, that could be probably the biggest reason why the Rangers have not named a captain, at least as of yet. And we’ll see if they name one going into the season. Obviously, there’s still time, but is it at least possible? Possible that they’re going to leave it vacant for this upcoming season and potentially give it to Conor McDavid if they can make a run of him. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. And again, I don’t think that’s the biggest reason why there’s not a captain right now, but it does kind of spark your your curiosity a little bit, right? As far as why the Rangers uh currently do not have anybody uh wearing the seat. And as far as like the captaincy, I mean, look, if they got McDavid, he’s the captain. It’s as simple as that. We’ve talked about how there’s a void of leadership in the locker room right now and there’s no obvious choice to be the next captain. And when you watch uh some of these behind the-scenes videos that the NHL makes available and granted, we don’t see everything, but when you watch these videos and you watch McDavid talk to his teammates and you watch him interact with everybody, he seems like captain material to me. Obviously, he’s their captain and he does not seem like somebody who’s shy to speak up. He does not seem like somebody who’s hesitant to call it like it is. So McDavid’s the guy and it’s at least possible that the Rangers are playing the long game here and you know leaving the captaincy vacant you know for this upcoming season. Now I could say this and maybe they’ll name a captain tomorrow but as of now it’s not the reason why there’s no captain for the Raiders could be one of the smaller reasons why there’s no captain for the Raiders. I think also another way to bring in Conor McDavid. Another way to make the sales pitch for him Igor. Igor Shurken has got to be part of this sales pitch. Eigor for my money. We just did an episode on Eigore. I I think it was the one before this one if I’m not mistaken. I’m getting all my days, you know, kind of mixed up right now. But we talked about how I believe he’s the best goalie in the NHL despite what happened this past season. And also that when it comes to the playoffs, when it comes to a big game, a game that you absolutely must win, there’s nobody you want between the pipes more than I Sturken. And I will die on that hill. Absolutely. I I truly do believe that. And when you look at what happened in the playoffs for some of the other, you know, elite goalies in this league, whether it’s Halabuk, whether it’s Hoter, um, you know, Vaselpski hasn’t played well in the playoffs recently. To me, Eigor is the best big game goalie in the NHL. Well, Conor McDavid for basically his entire career has been sifting through a bunch of goalies that include, you know, Steuart Skinner and Mike Smith. It hasn’t really been good. It hasn’t really been a hallmark of elite goalending there with the Edmonton Oilers. to me. I mean, I I joked about this on social media when the finals were going on between the Panthers and the Oilers this year, but it’s really not that much of a joke. It might be a slight exaggeration. I said that if the Oilers had had Eigor Schustkin for all the years that they’ve had Conor McDavid, they would have three Stanley Cups by now. I I really think when you go from weak goending to elite goalending and you’ve got a team with McDavid and Dry idol, I mean, my god, you’re you’re set up for success, you’re going to have at least one Stanley Cup by now, I would have to think. Um, but be that as it may, obviously Eigore is an incredible goalie and I think he’s part of the sales pitch to Conor McDavid. You’re tired of seeing people let in soft goals and having to constantly overcome this. Well, how about instead of goalending being a weakness for you, we turn it into one of the strengths of the team. And that’s what the case would be if McDavid, you know, were to come to the New York Rangers. Uh, one other thing, there are two two more things that I got here as far as the sales pitch is concerned. Now, these are kind of minor and I think they’re to be expected, but I think with McDavid, you go to the maximum length that the contract will allow that the CBA uh will allow as far as the Rainers are concerned. You’re probably have to go to the maximum amount of years, probably a whole bunch of dollars as well. I think that pretty much goes without saying. I I did see some rumors float out there or just maybe some speculation that, you know, McDavid might consider signing just a three-year deal or a four-year deal or a five-year deal to stay with the Oilers. Maybe he would consider that going somewhere else as well. See, he’s in a unique situation because he’s the best player in the NHL. And that being the case, you know, he doesn’t really need to go mo most guys want the maximum contract, the most amount of years, and therefore dollars that they can get. But it’s not like McDavid in three years or four years like his value was going to be in the toilet. He did get another massive contract when the salary cap is even higher. So, he could look to go to a little bit of a shorter contract. But, I just think that if you’re going to pry him away from the Oilers, you’re going to have to pony up the dough a as well as the years, the length of the contract. I think that’ll be important as well. And also, look, I know we don’t like full move CL. Okay, let’s try that again. I know we don’t like full no move clauses. There we go. But I think for Conor McDavid, that’s going to go without saying. He’s very clearly going to have that put into his contract uh no matter where he ends up next. And the Rangers would have to uh include that as well. But in just a second, going to keep talking about McDavid. We’re going to talk a little bit about the financial aspects of the Rangers potentially signing McDavid next offseason. We touch on it very briefly, but we’re going to get into the numbers really into the nitty-gritty here, and we will do that in just a second to find out if the Rangers can even afford MC McDavid. All right, we just want to take a minute to let everybody know that today’s episode of Lockdown New York Rangers is brought to you by Indeed. You just realize your business need to hire someone. Yesterday, how can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed sponsored jobs put your job post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates much, much faster. We’ve all been in that spot where we need to hire somebody like yesterday. The pressure’s on and every day without the right person is another setback. That’s exactly when Indeed sponsored jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. Now you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsored job credit. Just go to indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying that you heard about them on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring indeed is all you need. All right, so let’s keep everything rolling here. Having some fun on today’s episode of Locked on New York Rangers talking about the uh at least remote possibility or a semi- remote possibility that the Raiders land Conor McDavid in free agency this upcoming offseason. One can certainly dream and like I said, we’re deep in the offseason. It’s a lot of fun to throw out some of these hypotheticals like this. So, I I think the other big hurdle here, and it’s something that probably popped into a lot of your heads as I was talking about McDavid in, you know, the first part of today’s episode, but it’s probably going to be the big question. Can the Rangers even afford this? Is there a way to make the money work? In short, yes, there is. First thing we have to do here, I think, is try to determine what exactly does a new Conor McDavid contract look like, whether it’s the Rangers or anybody else. How many years are we talking here? and how much money per per season, which I think is even more important. So, for reference here, as far as the highest paid players in the game right now, you’ve got Leandtle 14 million a year, Austin Matthews at 13.25, Nathan McKinnon at 12.6, and then Conor McDavid at 12.5. And he is uh going into the final year of his 8-year 100 million contract. So, he’s going to get a raise. And I just don’t think there’s any way possible, again, touched on this briefly a little bit earlier in today’s episode, but I don’t think there’s any way possible that McDavid signs a new contract next off seasonason or whenever he signs it and is anything less than the highest paid player in the NHL. There’s just no way. He’s far and away the best players. The cap is rising and these contracts are just going to get richer and richer as the years progress here. But I do think that he eventually ends up staying with the Oilers. I think it’ll be somewhere around $17 million per season. I mean, does that sound about right? Dry idol’s at 14, so he’s like the best basis of comparison. We’ve also got Austin Matthews at 13.25, like I mentioned. Yeah, McDavid’s going to beat them all. He’s going to beat them all, I think, fairly comfortably. Um, could it get up even higher than that? Could we end up at 18 or 19 million? I think it’s at least possible, but I I mean, he he’s got all the cards. That’s the thing. he could squeeze out just about every dime from the Oilers or anybody else that he wants to, but I’m thinking maybe around like the 17 or $18 million mark would be about right when you consider again the his peers as well as the rapidly rising salary cap. But what about the Rangers? What about their salary cap situation? So, what we’re going to do right now is we’re going to work off of the numbers provided by Puckedia and we’re also going to account for the rising salary cap. The NHL salary cap for this upcoming season is $95.5 million. It took a significant jump from last season when the cap was at $88 million. And there is also an estimate that the salary cap for next season or or rather the one after this one. So again, 202526, that’s the one coming up, it’s going to be at $95.5 million. The season after that, the one that really counts for the Rangers as far as their potential pursuit of McDavid, the salary cap will be up to $104 million. Now, that is an estimate. It’s not set in stone, but it should at least come out somewhere in that ballpark. And with that being the case, the Raiders should have approximately, this is perpedia, $29.625 million in cap space next off season. That’s more than you would think. And it als it factors in guys that are slated to be UFAS for the Rangers next offseason as well as RFAS. You’ve got Paneran. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent. So that means his 11.6 million cap hit will be coming off the books. Now you can make a case, I think a pretty strong case either way to either uh resetting Paneran or letting him walk in free agency or if the Rangers don’t contend even trading him near the deadline if he’s willing to, you know, wave his no move clause. I think there’s a compelling case to be made either way. We’ve debated that in the past. We’ll debate it moving forward in the future as well, but that’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of money that will be coming off and be available to the Rangers next offseason. You’ve also got Carson Susie. He is at $3.25 million and he too will be an unrestricted free agent next off seasonason. So, right there, you’re already at about $15 million. Other UFAs are Broaddzinski. I mean, that’s not going to make a dent. He’s at 788K. Jonathan Quick is at 1.55 million. And then you’ve got Braden Schneider who’s an RFA with arbitration rights at 2.2 million. So he’d be in line for a raise or the Rangers could always trade him if they want to uh go a little bit cheaper there, make room for McDavid or any of the other free agents next off season. But all this is to say that I was surprised to see this. I was surprised to see that as far as money is concerned, it’s really not that big of an issue as as far as the Rangers potentially pursuing McDavid uh this upcoming off season. You could potentially, and I stress potentially, I I really really stress potentially here, but you could potentially sign McDavid if he becomes a free agent and if he wants to come here and if he’s, you know, willing to agree to whatever terms the Rangers are throwing out there, you could sign McDavid and also have enough left to resign Paneran, which blows my mind. But when you look at the salary cap situation, you look at where the Rangers are, and you look at the fact that the salary cap is rising, yeah, that is possible. That’s something that’s on the table. Now, if you do both of those things, there’s not going to be any money left for anything else. You’re going to have to essentially just kind of piece meal the rest of the roster together. But just the fact that it’s on the table, I I think is pretty wild. It is certainly doable. Um, here’s the thing, though, and I again, I touched on this very briefly in the last, you know, section of today’s episode. When it comes to McDavid and the money, I don’t think it’s really about the money for McDavid. Now, in a way, it’s always about the money, but I also mentioned not too long ago, a couple of minutes ago, that he is essentially a slam dunk to become the highest paid player in terms of average annual value in the history of this league. He’s going to get that no matter where he goes. Any team that even like like wants to pretend to have a shot at McDavid, you know what you’re signing up for here. You know how much it’s going to take. You know how much money it’s going to cost, and you’re have to pony up the dough if you want to if you want to land this guy, right? So it that’s almost like a wash because he’s going to get massively paid from the Oilers. He would get massively paid from the Rangers. He would get massively paid for any of these other teams that people want to throw out there, whether it’s Toronto or Vegas, Tampa, any of these teams. And we’ll dive into some of his other suitors in just a minute here. But it it’s almost like a cancel out effect. I mean, yeah, one team might offer slightly more, but when you’re talking about like, I don’t know, like 17 million per year or 17.5 million or 18 million per year, and maybe it’s higher than that, who knows? But it gets to a point where it’s like, all right, well, I’m getting massively paid either way. So, what are the other factors here? What else would make me happy? What else makes the Oilers a good place to stay or the Rangers a good place to go or, I don’t know, Vegas a good place to go? whatever it might be. I don’t think money will be the factor. It will be a factor. Don’t think it will be the factor uh when it comes to Conor McDavid. And I don’t know him personally, but just kind of connecting the dots here and looking at the lay of the land, that’s kind of the conclusion that I’ve come away with. Um however, I will say this. If it does come down to money, that should not stop the Rangers. If this comes down to a massive bidding war and there’s several teams in on McDavid and he comes to a conclusion that I’m just going to go to whatever team gives me the most money. If that does happen, it shouldn’t stop the Rangers for a second. Let’s say there’s a situation where somebody would have to beat the Oilers offer. Let’s say it actually happens. Let’s say McDavid actually makes it to free agency this upcoming offseason, but a tie goes to the Oilers. Maybe he says, “You know what? I’m going to stay with the Oilers unless somebody can beat it and or beat it significantly. If all teams are offering him about the same deal, then the Rangers owe it to themselves to give him the best deal possible. They have the cap space to do it. Contrary to what a lot of people might think, they actually do have the cap space to do it. You know what the bottom line, and look, the contract might look crazy and that might scare some people. We’re talking about a once in a-lifetime player here, a once in a-lifetime generational player in terms of him actually making it to free agency if he does. because the other superstar players that we’ve seen and you know you can go through all the names they haven’t made it to free agency or if they have it’s very very late in their career. So that being the case we haven’t seen this we haven’t seen somebody like Conor McDavid become available as a free agent while still in his 20s and we might not see it even now because he could still obviously resign with the Oilers. But if it does happen and it comes down to financials, it comes down to money, it comes down to the length of the contract, the amount of money on the contract, throw everything you can at Conor McDavid and do whatever it takes to reel him in and figure out the rest of the roster after that. You’ve got one Stanley Cup in 85 years. It’s time to be bold. It’s time to be brave. It’s time to shoot your shot here. The Raiders passed on Jack Eel all those years ago, right? And Jack Eichel is not Conor McDavid and I understand that. And at the time, I’m not going to do revisionist history. I was happy with the Raiders hanging on to Mika Zenichad rather than giving away a whole bunch of assets to acquire Jack Eel who had had his fair share of injuries and maybe even some attitude problems there with the Buffalo Sabres. So, I was fine with that. But, they miss out on Jack Eel. Uh Brady Kachchuck, I mean, it’s not going to happen now. You know, people talked about them trading for Brady Kachchuck and you know, I guess it’s one of those things that was at least a remote possibility. I never thought Ottawa would be looking to deal him, but whether they were or not, I mean, the Raiders never really pursued it. at least not that we know of. So, here’s your chance, man. This this is the biggest fish in the pond and then some. So, to me, you know, if if he was to reach free agency, we’ll never see another player like this maybe ever get to free agency at this point in their career, right in their prime, right when they’re in their late 20s. So, I think if the Rangers and it comes down to financials, you do everything possible. Now, I also mentioned that I wanted to go ahead and kind of run through the gauntlet here of other teams that could potentially be in on Conor McDavid. Obviously the Oilers and I do think that they’re the front runner and they’ve got some leverage there because they can offer one more year to Conor McDavid than any other team can. There is that rule where you know the the team that’s looking to resign its own free agent, they can go one year longer than any other team looking to bring him in on a free agent deal. So don’t discount that either. And I don’t know if McDavid would want to do the three-year deal or he would want to go through for the maximum years. You know, we’ll see. But, you know, very clearly that the Oilers do have that card to play if if it comes down to that. There was also an article, I mean, I looked at a bunch of articles for this trying to get the latest news and is any any progress on a contract. You know, what’s going on here, but there was an article from Greg Washinsky on NHL.com. He mentions the Oilers, the Leafs, the Kings, and the Rangers as I I guess what would be his top four. And he mentioned all the reasons why. And then he also lumped a couple of teams together. the Bruins, the Avalanche, the Knights, the Stars, and the Lightning as teams that could at least be in play. Now, Toronto, he that’s one of the first teams that he mentioned after Edmonton. He’s from Ontario is McDavid, so obviously that could make some sense. You know, you go back home and Toronto is a team that has gotten it done in the regular season, but not in the playoffs, and maybe he sees that as a challenge, and I’m going to push my team over the finish line. You’ve got the Kings. I mean, that’s another big market team. if he wants to go to a big market city like Los Angeles, like New York, uh there’s certainly uh both possibilities for him. Uh you know, the Avalanche and the Lightning, I kind of lump the two of them together because these are teams that have recently won Stanley Cups, two for the Lightning and one for the Avalanche, but they haven’t really done much in recent seasons. It feels like both those teams get knocked out in the first round every year. Now, now granted with Tampa, it’s because they’re always up against Florida. Um, but still, I mean, those are teams that have their Stanley Cup winning cores somewhat intact and you bring in Conor McDavid and it’s like, okay, let’s go get another one, right? So, I I think you could throw the two of them together. You know, Vegas is another one. They’re always in on everybody and it feels like they just kind of find ways to dance around the salary cap every season, but I mean, if Conor McDavid becomes a freed, you’re telling me Vegas is not going to be in on him? I think they certainly would be. So, those are some teams I do. You know what? I’ll save this for the next section because we’re going to talk about a verdict and and what the most likely outcome here is and any final thoughts on Conor McDavid potentially joining the Rangers. We will do that in just a second. All right, we just want to take a minute to let everybody know that today’s episode of Locked on New York Rangers is brought to you by Modern Money. Most people cannot name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there is Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NHL at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NHL. All right, so a quick verdict on uh Conor McDavid here. A couple of final thoughts as well. I’ve hinted at this. I think I outright said it at one point in this episode, but I think the most likely outcome here is that Conor McDavid ultimately does choose to remain with the Edmonton Oilers. It’s home for him. It’s all he’s ever known. He’s been there ever since he debuted. They made him the number one overall pick. Uh this upcoming season will be his 11th with the Oilers. He’s got family there, his family there. Um doesn’t really, and I don’t know him personally again, but just kind of seeing him in interviews and the way he carries himself and whatnot, he doesn’t really strike me as somebody that’s going to be like intoxicated by the bright lights of New York City. I’m not saying he would like shy away from it either, but I don’t know. to me, he doesn’t really come across as somebody who needs that. You guys let me know if you feel differently, and I can’t stress this enough. I don’t know him personally, so I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking, but I just don’t sense for McDavid that that really matters all that much to him. You know, that that’s just kind of where I’m at. Um, he’s adored by the fans in Edmonton. That’s the other thing. I mean, he’s practically a god in the city of Edmonton. I mean that they they worship their hockey and obviously they had the dynasty with the Oilers back in the day back in the 80s and whatnot and they’re trying to get back there and win another one. Um but I mean he can do no wrong. I mean they they love him. I I don’t think I’ve ever heard an Oiler fan really complain about McDavid. Uh despite this team getting close but not quite getting over the finish line and winning a Stanley Cup. And you guys know as well as I do, we’re all Raider fans. We’re all in this together. We can be tough on our team. We can be tough on certain players. We can certainly be tough on high price free agents that come over and don’t necessarily live up to the hype. Now, if the Rangers were to sign McDavid, I’m sure all those flashy numbers would follow and all these unbelievable highlight reel goals and these unreal passes that he makes. We’d be seeing that on almost a night in andout basis. But as far as like Ranger fans go, again, we can be tough on our team. And everything that Ranger fans said about this team this past year, I think was 100% justified because they deserved it with how they played. But, you know, the Raiders, they get Conor McDavid here. They get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round or the second round or, you know, maybe McDavid just isn’t as good as he needs to be in the playoffs. He’s going to start to hear it. And you guys know this, like, we have to be honest with ourselves. Rainer fans will let players hear it when they’re not performing well. And I don’t think that that’s unjustified or anything like that. But this is a very, very bright spotlight to be under. Whereas at Edmonton, again, he’s homegrown. He was drafted their first overall. He’s this unbelievable player. He’s led them to prominence. They’re this close to winning a Stanley Cup. Uh they’re not going to turn on Conor McDavid. I I just don’t see that happening. Rainer fans, yeah, we might. And I don’t think that that’s like a major reason why he won’t come here, but it could be at least a reason. I mean, he’s comfortable, right? So, that that’s quite the culture change, too, I think, going from Edmonton uh to New York City, but he’s also got Leon Dreidol in Edmonton. We mentioned him briefly earlier in today’s episode. My understanding is the two the two of them are very close. And again, just that idea of unfinished business. It’s a team that’s been knocking on the door and trying to get it done. He’s also got Chris Knobblock there. You know, Knobblock coached him all the way back in the OL. And I would imagine that hiring Knoblock, you know, two seasons ago, it had to have at least factored in the fact that he had some familiarity uh with Conor McDavid. One other thing that I want to throw out here as well is that when it comes to, you know, what McDavid might do next, whether he leaves the Oilers or not, I just wonder if we all need to take time to appreciate the fact that, you know, the Rangers, they are still a very highly soughtafter destination. We’re very lucky in that regard. I think we all need to take time to appreciate that because what we saw last season, I mean, who would want to come here, right? And yet, we see it all the time. We saw Vladav Gaver take a little bit less money to come to the Rangers than he probably could have gotten elsewhere. Uh we saw it in the past with Krider resigning here, with Paneran signing here. Those guys left money on the table in Crider’s case to stay here in Paneran’s place uh case to come here. But it it’s obviously very advantageous situation to be on to be in. Um, but I will say this as as we wrap up today’s episode and have just a couple of final thoughts here. Again, I think McDavid stays with the Oilers. I do kind of get the feeling though that if he leaves and goes somewhere else, and that’s a major if, but if that does happen, I think the Rangers are right at or near the top of the list. I think it’s either the Rangers or Toronto. Toronto because that’s his hometown. The Rangers because obviously it’s a place where people like to play. And maybe McDavid does want the city more than I than I realize. But, uh, we’ll see how it all shakes out. It’s fun to talk about, that is for sure. But, uh, you guys leave me your thoughts. Let me know what you think. In the meantime, uh, we’ll get out of here for now. But, uh, thank you guys as always for tuning in, and I will see you next time.

Could Connor McDavid be wearing Rangers blue next season? The NHL superstar’s potential free agency has New York fans buzzing with excitement.

Host Jon Chik explores the tantalizing possibility of McDavid joining the New York Rangers, breaking down the factors that could influence his decision. From the Rangers’ impressive $29.625 million in projected cap space to the allure of playing alongside elite goaltender Igor Shesterkin, Chik leaves no stone unturned. He also examines other potential suitors, including McDavid’s hometown Toronto Maple Leafs and the rising Los Angeles Kings.

Will the Rangers make a serious play for the game’s best player? Tune in for an in-depth analysis of New York’s chances to land the biggest free agent in NHL history.

Episode 1,364.

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