EDMONTON – Connor McDavid is opening the Edmonton Oilers’ championship window a little wider.
The Oilers announced Monday they have agreed to a two-year, US$25-million contract extension with their superstar captain.
While that extension doesn’t keep No. 97 in Edmonton colours long-term, it does put to rest the team’s biggest source of anxiety as they head into the season looking to hoist the Stanley Cup after two straight years as runner-up to the Florida Panthers.
McDavid was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and getting him back under contract was the team’s top priority.
“Connor’s commitment to our team and our city is surpassed only by his singular focus on bringing a Stanley Cup back to fans of the Edmonton Oilers,” Stan Bowman, the team’s executive vice president of hockey operations and general manager, said in a release.
McDavid confirmed the news on the social media platform X before the Oilers made it official. He posted “Our journey here continues,” with a photo of him standing alongside his teammates on the ice at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.
While this pre-season has seen some hefty contracts doled out, including a record-setting eight-year, $136-million extension for Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov, McDavid has deferred the chance to cash in.
Related Videos
The extension’s average annual value of $12.5 million is the same as McDavid’s current eight-year deal.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
That gives the Oilers a couple more years as a Stanley Cup favourite, but it remains to be seen if Edmonton ends up a long-term landing place for the superstar centre.
Viewed as the best player in the game, McDavid is coming off his fifth straight 100-point season despite being limited to just 67 contests because of injury.
The top pick at the 2015 draft has 361 goals and 721 assists for 1,082 points across 712 regular-season games. McDavid registered career-highs in goals (64) and points (153) in 2022-23 before hitting 100 assists the following season.
Fellow star centre Leon Draisaitl signed an eight-year, $112-million extension with the Oilers in September 2024 — a pact that carries an average annual value of $14 million and ties him to the franchise through 2032-33.
McDavid is a five-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s leading scorer, took home the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy in 2022-23 after topping the league in goals, and became just the sixth player on a Cup-losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2024.
The 28-year-old has 150 points (44 goals, 106 assists) in 96 post-season contests and is a four-time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award as league MVP voted on by fellow members of the NHL Players’ Associations.
McDavid, who helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February and is set to headline the NHL’s Olympic return in Italy next year, breathed life into the bumbling Oilers when he arrived in town.
A generational talent with breathtaking speed, skill and vision, the Newmarket, Ont., product helped Edmonton snap a 10-season playoff drought in 2017.
Two springs without post-season competition then preceded a pair of pandemic-impacted campaigns that ended with little success.
The Oilers finally broke through in 2022 by making the Western Conference final for the first time since 2006 — McDavid registered an outrageous 33 points in 16 games — but were swept by the Colorado Avalanche, who went onto hoist the Cup.
Edmonton lost out to the Vegas Golden Knights, another eventual title-winning club, in the second round in 2023 before beating the Dallas Stars in back-to-back conference finals.
Like the rest of the league, however, the Oilers had no answer for the relentless Panthers.
Asked about his future following Edmonton’s six-game defeat to Florida in June’s championship series, McDavid spoke about “trying to get it over that finish line” and “unfinished business” with the Oilers.
He also made it clear that’s far from his only priority.
“Ultimately, still need to do what’s best for me and my family,” McDavid said at Rogers Place. “That’s who you have to take care of first.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
