TSN: Pierre LeBrun and Jay Onrait discuss Connor McDavid’s future in Edmonton.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Onrait: “Let’s talk about Connor McDavid. He’s already said he doesn’t want to talk about a potential contract extension after this season. But you had a chance to talk to the Oilers team President Jeff Jackson, who’s in such a unique situation.
He’s Conor McDavid’s former agent, so he negotiated Connor’s last deal on behalf of Connor, and now he will have to negotiate Connor’s next deal on behalf of the team. So what did Jeff have to say about the McDavid extension?
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LeBrun: “Yeah, a deal, by the way, that you may remember Jay at the time, Connor McDavid at the last moment, said, let’s take a bit less than what we agreed to, to help out the team under the cap. We’ll see if that happens again this time around.
What Jeff, Jeff Jackson said a couple things to me when I ran into him with the Board of Governors, and one of them is that, listen, obviously they’re confident they have a shot at extending him this summer. Connor McDavid can sign one year out as of July 1st, the most important contract negotiation the entire NHL.
But one thing Jeff Jackson tried to caution is that just as Leon Draisaitl, eventually signed this summer, late in the summer, you know, just, you know, if McDavid doesn’t sign on July 1st, people should not panic. Should not read into that. That this is a process, and they’re going to work through it as they do. They have great communication with their captain and franchise player. But if it doesn’t happen July 1, everyone in Oiler nation should take a deep breath. And I thought that was interesting, because he just did it with Draisaitl. So you got to believe that Jeff Jackson understands how this may play out.
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And he is confident that because the Oilers are a team that are in the mix that went to the final, that our contender again, that that’s the most important thing to Conor McDavid, and when it’s time to talk this summer, he feels pretty good about their chances.