This in from Cathal Kelly, lead sports columnist for Toronto’s national newspaper, the Globe & Mail, his take that Connor McDavid has made up his mind and is set on leaving Edmonton.
“McDavid is trying to let Edmonton down easy, before he’s forced to let them down hard,” Kelly writes, noting that quite rightly whatever McDavid wants in a deal in terms of salary and term under the Collective Bargaining Agreement that Edmonton will surely agree.
“McDavid’s been free to re-sign for a couple of months now, and no deal. I guess they could be hammering out the details. Except, what details? He’s been to two Stanley Cup finals in a row. If winning is the measure of it, there’s only one team he can switch to (Florida), and it can’t afford him. And yet he persists in this less-than-sensible formulation.
“This leads to one conclusion – McDavid is quiet quitting Edmonton. Most quiet quitters don’t get asked about it. He will be. Constantly. That make it loud quitting, which is bad for morale. McDavid wants the Oilers to show that they are committed to creating a winning culture? Here’s an idea – move as quickly as possible to get some return on the guy who doesn’t want to be on your team.”
My take
1. Of course, it could well be that McDavid won’t sign another contract in Edmonton. Kelly’s insight may prove out. But that doesn’t mean what he has to say here has one iota of credibility attached to it.
Kelly can’t read McDavid’s mind. He has no idea what McDavid is thinking or has decided. Kelly is also not an NHL insider like a Frank Seravalli or a Bob Stauffer or an Elliotte Friedman so it’s highly unlikely what he’s writing here is based on any kind of inside information.
It stands or fall on the strength of Kelly’s argument.
2. What is Kelly’s argument? Essentially that he can’t think of any reason that McDavid hasn’t yet signed, so that must mean McDavid has made up his mind already to not sign another deal in Edmonton.
But this is an odd argument, no? Didn’t Oilers hockey boss Jeff Jackson details the unfolding process of the McDavid negotiations and dig into the player’s mindset in an interview five days ago.
Jackson explained how the new deal will look. “It’s going be something Connor is comfortable with both in terms of a dollar amount and a term amount. I can’t tell you where that’s exactly going to be at this point because I don’t know. But I do know Connor and he looks at things from all angles. He’s not looking at it purely from a like, ‘I’m going to break the bank and make as much money as I can’ scenario. He wants to find the razor’s edge where he gets paid for the star player that he is, that allows the team to surround himself with the best players that we possibly can, gives us options to do that beyond next year, so all that comes into his thinking.”
That’s a lot of balls in the air for McDavid, a lot of issues to weigh, and this all comes after another exhausting season that ended mid-June, then a short (by NHL standards) summer break to rest and recuperate.
Jackson said he was confident that a deal would get done, but it was going to take some time, and there was no rush.
3. We are left here with Kelly’s certain statement: “This leads to one conclusion – McDavid is quiet quitting Edmonton.” But another conclusion is that McDavid is taking his time and carefully, diligently trying to get the best contract for himself, his team and his family.
This represents a second conclusion. Either Kelly failed to think of it or neglected it. I don’t know. I can’t read his mind.
But what Jackson said of McDavid’s process made sense to me, and I suspect Jackson is telling the truth, given any stretch or the truth or distortion of McDavid’s position would be damaging in negotiations.
4. McDavid’s negotiation might seem simple to you or me or Cathal Kelly. All he’s got to do is decide on a contract term and annual salary, then Oilers management will sign off, right?
But that’s easy for us to say.
Let’s say one option is eight years at $18 million. Another is five years at $16 million. Another is three years at $15 million. And another is two years at $14 million. For the rest of us, it appears McDavid simply just has to pick one.
But it’s not that simple. Those aren’t our years of life or our millions on the line. Those are his years, his millions. This is a massive, serious, decision for him. This isn’t a light or frivolous matter, it’s one of the two or three biggest decisions McDavid will make during his playing career.
Is that not the reason he’s taking some time to figure it out? He and his agent would be irresponsible if they didn’t dig deep and have probing discussions with Oilers management before making any decision.
4. My own conclusion? Toronto sports writers are going to Toronto sports write. They’re going to come up with all kinds of wonky theories and bonkers notions. They’ll keep reading McDavid’s body language and his mind, as if that were a thing.
And they’ll keep on providing the rest of us a great amount of amusement.
Goodness knows, we can all use a chuckle.
At the Cult of Hockey
Cult of Hockey prospect series 2025
Forwards: Maxim Berezkin (3rd), Josh Samanski (5th), Quinn Hutson (6th), William Nicholl (9th), Roby Jarventie (11th), Viljami Marjala (12th), Connor Clattenburg (13th), Tommy Lafreniere (14th). David Lewandowski (15th)
Dmen: Beau Akey (7th-tie) Atro Leppanen (10th) Paul Fischer (16th), Nikita Yevseyev (18th), Asher Barnett (19th)
Goalies: Samuel Jonsson (7th-tie), Nathaniel Day (17th), Eemil Vinni (20th)