Oilers facing $25 million Connor McDavid future problem originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Connor McDavid took a discount.

The best player in hockey could’ve demanded almost any dollar amount this offseason when signing a two-year extension with the Edmonton Oilers that takes him through the 2027-28 season.

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Instead, he settled for a tame rate, $12.5 million per year for two years, $25 million total.

It didn’t make him the highest-paid player in the NHL. It didn’t even make him the highest-paid player on the Oilers, an honor that still belongs to Leon Draisaitl.

What it did do, though, is open up all sorts of doors.

McDavid is now more easily acquired by another team in a trade than if he was making $16-20 million per year.

MORE: Oilers might be closer to Connor McDavid nightmare than it appears

He also has more validity to consider what his next contract might look like. He didn’t sign a longer-term deal with the Oilers in what looked to be a move to keep his options open.

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Entering a summer with two years remaining on his value rate, McDavid has the whole hockey world in front of him. And the Oilers aren’t in a position of power here.

They know their best chance to win the Stanley Cup is with McDavid, so they have to make him happy.

If he stays, that means big swings to add talent around him, assuming that a major postseason run doesn’t materialize from what has been a relatively disappointing season.

If McDavid were to ask for a trade, the Oilers would find a whole host of suitors.

And shoot, if McDavid decides he’s not going to move anywhere anytime soon, he can now demand a record-setting contract, pointing to his willingness to take value on his last deal and now go for broke on the next one.

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None of this will be rumored much until Edmonton’s season actually ends. But it’s worth thinking about now.

McDavid’s hockey future is still very much up in the air, even if the change happens in a year or two and not now.

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