Connor McDavid, Oilers sign 8-year, $100 million contract extension

Connor McDavid is a clear superstar at just age 20, and he’s going to get paid like it. The Edmonton Oilers announced an eight-year, $100 million contract for their captain on Wednesday.

The move comes after a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that a deal was close with an average annual value of $13.25 million. At the time, McDavid’s agent, Jeff Jackson, told TSN’s Pierre LeBrun that both sides are working on the extension, but it’s "not done yet.”

If Friedman’s report was accurate, then McDavid came down slightly in his asking price to get the deal done. He’ll have a $12.5 million cap hit starting in the 2018-19 season.

Those contract terms put McDavid well above the deals Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed for the Blackhawks at an average of $10.5 million a year each, making the young Oilers captain the current highest-paid NHL player. Kane and Toews have held that spot since their deals went into effect in 2015, and they’ll be joined at $10.5 million when Carey Price’s new deal goes into effect next year.

McDavid is coming into the last year of his entry-level deal, so the new contract will not kick in until the 2018-19 season and will expire after the 2025-26 season. The deal does pass the Collective Bargaining Agreement, as it only represents 17.67 percent of the $75 million cap for this upcoming year. The maximum allowed by the CBA is 20 percent.

Considering the superstar McDavid has already become, this deal will be a no-brainer for the Oilers even at such a high cost. McDavid likely could have asked for the moon because of how valuable he is, but a $13.25 million AVV over eight years would work for Edmonton.

McDavid had 100 points in 82 games last year in his first full season, winning the Hart Trophy in the process as the NHL’s most valuable player of the season. His rookie year was cut short by injury, but he still managed to put up 48 points in 45 games.