Neurosis.

An old medical term, its symptoms included things like obsession, irrational fear and extreme emotional outbursts.

To be taken seriously and not trivialized, for sure.

But do those things not describe some of the reaction this week to Connor McDavid’s relatively innocuous comments about his contract?

That and more in this edition of…

9 Things

9. No official word on PTO’s ahead of Oilers main camp just yet. Often, players will (understandably) hold out until the last minute for an actual contract somewhere. I do expect recent AHL signing Luke Prokop to be invited.

8. What will Kasperi Kapanen give the Oilers this season? He is capable of 20 goals, he did it with the Leafs in 2018-19. But if he primarily gets Bottom-6 minutes and some PK time, history suggests he will be lucky to hit ten. But even that would be a solid contribution from $1.3m player.

7. In a recent interview with HockeySvergie.se, now former Edmonton Oilers forward Viktor Arvidsson reflected on his time in Edmonton: “I was a bit injured at the start. My role on the team wasn’t really what I had in mind, but it wasn’t what Edmonton had envisioned either”.

6. In our weekly podcast for The Cult of Hockey, David Staples and I recently shared some of our “hot takes” for the upcoming season. One of mine was that Trent Frederic would score twenty goals and collect eight penalty minutes. Twenty with little or no PP time? He scored 17 and 18 in Boston in similar circumstances so why not?

5. Edmonton Sports Radio note: Dustin Nielson, formerly Morning Host of the now-defunct AM 1260, will joining 95.7 Cruz FM September 3. The Edmonton Sports Talk live stream he helped build up after 1260’s demise will be simulcast. Nielson was very creative and competitive on his old AM show with a decent audience. The real challenge will be that all-talk Breakfast shows on FM music stations are only rarely successful. And I have some experience in that area. I wish him good luck.

4. From both a cap standpoint and from an on-ice product, the Edmonton Oilers really need one and ideally both of Ike Howard and Matt Savoie to be regular NHL players this season. Howard is at $950k, Savoie $887k. But here is the thing. I have no doubt they are good enough. But can they get enough top six minutes and even some special teams time to be impactful in a significant enough way? And, related: Are the Oilers really true cup contenders if they are in the top six? Hard question to answer.

3. Derek Ryan officially said farewell to Edmonton this past week in a social media post. And no surprise that a classy guy did it in a classy way:

“Edmonton, thank you for the best four years. My family and I will always cherish the city, the memories that we made there, and most importantly the relationships we formed. We might be leaving, but those relationships will last forever”.

Ryan literally willed himself to the NHL against odds faced by most undrafted players who followed a similar path. Ryan ended up playing 606 regular season games and 60 post-season matches. Impressive.

2. It has been overshadowed by the McDavid contract talk. But the progress of Zach Hyman’s injury is a major story to follow. Hyman suffered it in a collision with THEN Dallas-pest Mason Marchment back in Game Four of the Western Conference Final. Hyman subsequently had surgery May 28th. He appeared at the Olympic Orientation Camp in Calgary this past week. That was the good news. The not-so-good news? There was a brace still on that right wrist.

“Have one more meeting with the surgeon to wrap it up, which is great. Will I be ready for the regular season? I don’t know. But I’m on the right track, which is good. The fact that I don’t know is a good thing. Because it could be, ‘no, I’m not’”, said Hyman.

Well…it sure ain’t great news that he is still in a brace at the tail end of August. But we will take him at his word. Hyman is one of the Oilers five most important players. We all saw how much they missed him against Florida. A 100% return to health and the production he enjoyed in the latter half if this past season is critical to the Oilers Stanley Cup chances.

1.The Connor McDavid contract story dominated the headlines this past week and well they should have. There is arguably no bigger story in hockey right now that McDavid’s future. I thought the reporters who questioned him about it at the Olympic Team function were right to do so and handled it well. Connor’s answer:

“I said at the end of June I had every intention to take my time with it and I still feel the same way. I’ll take my time and go through everything. I have every intension to win in Edmonton. It’s my only focus, maybe next to winning a gold medal with Canada. I’ll take my time going through it with my family, my agent and everybody involved. We’re going through it slowly”.

My Take(s):

-Relax and exhale. Hey, I get some nervousness. This is your franchise player. But there is almost an anxiety surrounding his future. Breathe.

-A lot of the ‘noise” over this story seems to emanate from the city where Auston Matthews signed for just four years as opposed to the maximum. Just sayin’.

-I have done some negotiating in my day. One of my tactics was never “Yeah, this is going great, I’ll be back and at a price that suits you”. It just is not how business (smart business, at least) is done. This is why I am not reading as much into his response as some others might.

-This is a decision that primary affects Connor McDavid and his immediate Family. Where will they live, work and (eventually) go to school and grow up? Step back and think about his situation for a minute. Who among us when deciding our family’s futures would not have the exact same priorities?

-Which player has been more committed to Edmonton and the Oilers ever since he arrived? McDavid has left it all out on the ice since Day One and worked hard in the community. Not to mention this is also a guy who has actively helped recruit players into Edmonton. He likely had a hand in the Andrew Mangiapane signing. Has he ever once looked like a guy not planning on staying? Not that I have seen.

-I am on record as suggesting McDavid will probably not sign for the max. Think about it. There is only salary cap certainty in the NHL for the next three years, from $95.5m to $104m to $113.5m. Past that, nobody knows. Nobody, including Connor and his camp. It stands to reason that agents and their clients may not lean toward signing longer term lest they leave money on the table. Perhaps consider it in a way that probably more of us can relate to: Would you sign a home mortgage, locking yourself in for a fixed term and rate longer than you can reasonably predict?

In the end, I suspect this may happen faster than you expect. But I do believe it will happen. And yeah, I do think it will before the seasons starts. I remember most of us thinking another Connor, Hellebuyck, would not be long for Winnipeg. Hellebuyck would have also been a UFA at the end of 2023-24. He signed October 9.

Only Connor McDavid knows for sure. And what benefit is there for him to show his hand?

None that I can think of.

Now on Bluesky @kurtleavins.bsky.social. Also, find me on Threads @kleavins, Twitter @KurtLeavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social.

This article is not AI generated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.

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