September 12, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Just 78 days after the Edmonton Oilers’ heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Connor McDavid and company were back on the ice together at the Downtown Community Arena on Tuesday.

McDavid met with the media following for the Oilers’ informal skate to discuss a variety of topics surrounding the team as training camp approaches. Chief among them was Leon Draisaitl’s new eight-year, $112 million contract extension, which he signed on September 3. The 27-year-old couldn’t be happier to know his longtime teammate will be staying in Edmonton for at least the next nine years.

“Obviously, it’s great,” McDavid told Oilers TV on Tuesday. “I’m really happy for him and his family. It’s well-deserved. He deserves every penny. I’m happy he’s here for a really long time.”

With Draisaitl now committed to the Oilers’ organization through the 2032-33 season, the focus in Oil Country quickly turned to McDavid’s long-term future with the club. McDavid, who still has two years remaining on his contract, is eligible to sign an extension with the orange and blue on July 1, 2025. However, the Oilers captain is only focused on preparing for the upcoming season with just six days remaining until camp opens.

“It’s not something that I’m going to worry about,” said McDavid. “It’s a question that I’ll answer once. I’m worried about this year, I’m worried about being ready for the season, both myself personally and the group. That’s where my focus is at. It’s not on anything else. That stuff takes care of itself. It’s not something that I’m worried about.”

Related: Insider believes Oilers will sign McDavid and Draisaitl to contract extensions

The Oilers were viewed by many pundits as the Stanley Cup favourites ahead of the 2023-24 season. However, the Oilers posted a horrid 2-9-1 mark to start the season, while McDavid also had a slow start by his own high standards, tallying just 10 points in his first 11 games (the first time he had had fallen under a point per game since his rookie season). Fortunately, the Oilers posted an NHL-best 47 wins from November 11 onward, including a historic 16-game winning streak. The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner also put up 116 points in his final 60 games, which is a 158-point pace in a full 82-game schedule. Going into the 2024-25 campaign, McDavid and the Oilers are hoping the lessons learned will allow them to avoid making the same mistakes this season.

“I didn’t love the start I had last year, both personally and for the group,” said McDavid. “I’ve definitely learned a lot of lessons that way. The goal is to peak in early October, not necessarily in early September. You can’t get ahead of yourself. We talk about lessons and implementing them as you go, and last year, a big lesson would have been not getting ahead of ourselves and taking care of what’s in front of us. I think our group had good intentions. I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves coming out of the gates, and obviously, it showed. So you can just take care of what’s in front of you, and for us, that’s getting ready to go for a big camp and going from there.”

When the Oilers selected McDavid first-overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, the team had just missed the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, and were the least desirable market in the league from a players perspective. Even with hockey’s next phenom in the fold, the Oilers still only made one playoff appearance in McDavid’s first four NHL seasons. But now, after winning six playoff series since 2022 (second-most in the league during that span) and reaching Game 7 of the Final this past spring, McDavid believes Edmonton has become an attractive landing spot for high-end free agents.

“Winning helps,” said McDavid. “Being part of a winning team goes a long way. The [new arena] helps. You spend half your time, maybe more, in the rink. And our building is completely first class. And for people who haven’t experienced Edmonton and don’t know Edmonton, it’s really easy living, it’s convenient living. There’s no hour-long drive, there’s no traffic. The construction could be better, but it’s really convenient living. It’s stress-free living. It checks a lot of boxes for a lot of guys.”

Related: Henrique thrilled for opportunity to chase a Cup with the Oilers

Free agent additions up front like Zach Hyman and Evander Kane were key contributors during the Oilers first deep playoff run in the McDavid era in 2022. While McDavid is too humble to take any credit for it, he was major factor in Hyman and Kane deciding to sign with the Oilers. CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson brought in two more marquee free agent forwards this off-season in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, and re-signed Adam Henrique, who was acquired by the Oilers at the 2024 trade deadline. Despite losing four players from their Cup run, including Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, McDavid still feels good about the team coming into this season.

“I love the additions that we’ve made. I think we’ll miss some of the guys that we’ve lost,” said McDavid. “With that being said, that’s the NHL, that’s the salary cap era. That’s part of being a good team that’s right up against the cap. Things happen. It’s the unfortunate part of the game, but there’s lots of good players in this organization and a chance for guys to show what they have.”