Connor McDavid’s comment about possibly taking “no term” in contract negotiations went largely unnoticed in Edmonton on Friday, but it’s grown into the comment that has set sail to one thousand theories and speculations, especially in the Toronto market.
The buzz around the deal has now gone supersonic. The speculation is getting crazy.
Asked if he might consider a shorter term deal, McDavid said on Friday: “I said all options are on the table. That would mean length of term, short term, long term. Yeah. No term. You know it’s all options on the table, as I alluded to. So that would include a short term deal, yeah.”
In Edmonton, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug explained McDavid’s “no term” comment this way: “He kind of ran through it and was like, all options are on the table, you know, short-term, long-term, no-term. And I think that kind of caught everybody’s attention when he said the word ‘no-term.’ What he means is, you know, not signing a deal heading into the season. I didn’t take that to be any more than just him keeping that option on the table. And that is an option that is currently sitting on the table.”
In Toronto, however, the term fired up multiple speculations on just what McDavid is up to.
Toronto broadcaster Sid Seixeiro said, “Connor McDavid on Friday was asked about signing a short-term deal in Edmonton. He said all options are on the table. Including “no term”. He said that. Like…in a microphone. The potential distraction this is going to lead to in that market is going to be unprecedented.”
Former Leafs d-man Carlo Colaiacovo on his First Up radio show said he still believes McDavid will sign with the Oilers, but he’s not expecting anything soon.
“If you’re Connor McDavid and you’ve come this far, why would you rush yourself to sign a contract extension just to end the noise or appease the Edmonton Oilers and their fans, when really this decision you’re about to make is about you believing you have a chance to win a Stanley Cup? And I think for McDavid, the best approach for him is, look, he’s going to play at Edmonton this year, play the first month, two months of the season, and really get a feel on how you feel about this team and the way it’s constructed and what the future could potentially look like, and then decide. Because that’s what’s going to keep Connor McDavid at Edmonton. It’s how competitive this team is going to be, and do they have a chance to go back to a third straight Stanley Cup final and maybe win it this year? Because if they fall off the rails, why would McDavid commit himself to that?”
Colaiacovo also asked a provocative question: “Don’t you think the best thing for hockey would be if Connor McDavid was a trade candidate this year because Edmonton just completely falls flat on their face?”
On Toronto’s Overdrive sports radio show, former Leafs winger Jeff O’Neill also remarked on the “no term” comment. “That got people’s heads just buzzing.”
Host Chris Hayes noted McDavid himself is now whipping up emotions. “He can’t he can’t complain about a reaction to a comment like that. ‘No term’ is a wild comment.”
A moment later, he added about McDavid’s comment: “It just opens the door for craziness, you know. Which I embrace because I think it would be just an incredible story, the idea of this guy becoming a free agent. There’s not there’s no parallel. Gretzky got traded. Lemieux didn’t go anywhere. Sid’s still in Pittsburgh. Gordie Howe spent his whole career in Detroit. There’s no equivalent.”
Hayes wondered if McDavid is dreaming of playing in some other city. “And if that’s the case and it’s leaving Edmonton, man, what a story that’s going to be.”
Former NHL goalie Jamie McLennan speculated that McDavid wants a bridge deal and is trying to build up acceptance for such a deal by drawing out negotiations and making Edmonton fans hungry and thankful for any deal, even a short-term one.
“The problem is he’s opened the door (to speculation) and rightfully so. we’ll be talking about it every day because there until we have answers. All it is is speculation, and speculation burns hot.”
0’Neill wondered if McDavid was displeased with the off-season moves made by the Oilers. “Maybe he’s just not over like overly thrilled about that. Who knows?”
Also on TSN radio, former Leafs d-man Frank Corrado said he can see McDavid waiting for a few months to see how the Oilers take shape with so many new players.
“If you take Conor McDavid for what he said is he wants to see that this team is capable of winning now and into the future. And I think you can honestly say that the Edmonton Oilers are just as close as a bunch of teams to winning right now. You can’t say that the Oilers are that much better or that much worse than all the contending teams that we usually talk about. Colorado, Dallas, Vegas, you know, those are the ones in the Western Conference outside of who? The Florida Panthers, who they lost to the last couple seasons. So, the fact that it’s not done yet, maybe would lead you to believe that, you know, maybe Connor doesn’t think that the Edmonton Oilers are ready to become what the Florida Panthers are, where you could look at it and say, ‘That’s the team that’s built to win right now.’ And probably for the foreseeable future. Thus leaving Conor McDavid in limbo now with a year left on his deal.”
In Edmonton, former NHLer Rob Brown likely put it best on the Got Yer Back podcast: “We don’t know what’s in Connor’s head. And any of us that tries to pretend we do, it’s foolish. But as someone on the outside, the Oilers two years ago were better than they were last year, in my eyes. The Oilers last year are better than they are this year, right now. Because you had known quantities last year. This year you have unknowns. You don’t know what (Matt) Savoie is going to do. You don’t know what (Ty) Emberson is going to do. You don’t know what (Ike) Howard is going to do. And how is a guy like (veteran forward Adam) Henrique going to play at this age? He slowed down at the end of last year.”
Brown continued: “This isn’t an Oilers team that has got a ton of prospects coming up and they’ve got a Hyman, a Nugent-Hopkins, an Ekholm, all getting older. So he’s probably, I don’t blame them, saying, ‘Okay, whew, what’s this going to be three years from now?’”
My take
1. The iron law of major news stories is this: In the absence of good information, bad information flourishes. In the absence of solid facts, wild rumours, speculation and fearful imaginings reign supreme.
McDavid’s “no term” comment is likely best seen as him simply making it clear to all that he’s keeping all options open, that this is how contract negotiation is done.
But it was also vague enough that some folks are going to see it as him hinting he’s thinking of leaving.
“No term” can indeed be fairly seen as a wild comment, given how combustible hockey fans are.
2. Part of me is furious that Toronto commentators are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of McDavid getting traded or become a free agent. But why should I care about that? Of course they don’t care about our Oilers. Why would they?
Mostly I think McDavid has every right to figure out in his own time and on his own terms what he’s going to do when it comes to his next contract, and that when it comes to Oilers fans, the best thing we can do is chill out, keep our peace and not sweat the outcome whatever it may be.
As my buddy Phil said the other day, after Gretzky got sold out of town it broke his heart to the point he was weeping, but he realized hockey is just a business, so no use getting worked up if a player moves on.
That’s a feature of pro hockey, not a bug. We can all still cheer for our teams through thick and thin, but the Oilers aren’t life and death.
They’re a pro hockey team, no less but no more.
3. I already see some Oilers fans getting mad at McDavid for not quickly signing a new deal. That’s a reasonable response given the attachment some have for the team, but the higher ground is to accept that he’s got every right to decide on his own fate, that we would want nothing less for ourselves or our loved ones, and that if he does decide to go, that’s OK too, as he’s given everything he’s got to this city for a decade.
I feel a ton of gratitude for his brilliance and his dedication. If he wants to seek his fortune elsewhere, so be it. This is rightfully his choice.
At the Cult of Hockey
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