There's So Much Riding on Connor McDavid's Extension

Might the NHL get the same drama as other sports do?

Every time we get excited about a possible NHL free agent drama that has potential to grip the wider world, it almost always ends with an extension signed sometime during training camp. Mitch Marner is the exception, but that scenario is even more likely with Connor McDavid, given the new CBA kicking in. That is if McDavid were interested in signing for eight years, which he might not be. Still, it's like an 80 percent chance that McDavid remains in Northern Alberta for the next few years.

But the reason people are already asking questions, as McDavid had to face and didn't really shut down during Canada's orientation camp, is that no player can shift the league in so many ways as McDavid can. If the NHL wanted their own LeBron-athon or Aaron Judge hitting the market, this is it.

The Oilers' fortunes in all this are a given. We know that the entire franchise is basically riding on what McDavid wants to do. If he were to walk, are they even a playoff team?

But that's hardly the only thing McDavid is juggling here, even if it is the top priority. If the Oilers show McDavid their path to sustained contention at the top of the league, he'll most certainly take their money. What's clear is that they haven't quite done that yet, and Stan Bowman has a lot of work to do. Otherwise, his job along with everyone else's there, is forfeit.

McDavid also has some responsibility to his fellow players. It hasn't been said whether or not McDavid is going to hold out for the maximum he can make, which at the moment is $19.1M per. It seems unlikely, just because it would be very "un-hockey" for him to dwarf his teammate Leon Draisaitl's contract by $5 million per year, which is currently the top salary in the league.

And yet, if McDavid were to set the bar at one end there, and he absolutely can, players like Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel would be most appreciative. Both have deals that end in the next few years, and could start asking for numbers like $15M or $16M or more per year. The more they can ask, the more players on the run below them can ask for, and so on. McDavid can drag the market with him, which only a very few can. None can do so with the weight that he can. Even players like Connor Bedard and Logan Cooley would wait to sign their extensions until they see where the very top of the market ends up.

Finally, no player swings the power center of the NHL like McDavid could. Almost any other free agent who actually gets to free agency, or even considers it, probably knows that they might improve a team they might want to join, but they don't completely transform it. Mitch Marner is the probably the best player to get to free agency in a few years, and the Knights are still considered an iffy proposition for a deep playoff run.

McDavid is a different animal. Just for funsies, let's clear out the flotsam here in town next summer. Not only will Connor Murphy be traded, and Nick Foligno will go on to host the worst late night show ever with Ryan Dempster on Marquee, but Kyle From Chicago finds a way to dump Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky on anyone who might take them. And with the kind of desperation that we've never even sniffed from him, offers up $20M a season. The Hawks instantly become a playoff team.

What's probably hampering McDavid's outside interests, if he has any, is there are so few teams that could maneuver themselves to be able to offer him such a deal. There are even less he'd want to go to, and probably even less than that who could afford him, be somewhere he wants to go, and have enough left on the roster to keep him going to Finals. He's not coming here or San Jose, as he won't feel he has a year to wait, much less two or three. Pittsburgh could probably do it, but all that would be left on the roster is him, Sidney Crosby, trespassers, and custodial staff.

Detroit, if they could re-home Debrincat and Copp? Maybe. Utah with a couple moves? A stretch, but with a squint it's visible. Does McDavid think either are ready to jump into a Final upon his arrival?

What this season could become quickly about, should he go longer and longer without signing an extension, is watching teams start to shift things around...just in case. There might be some curious trades made before or at the deadline, if it gets that far.

It's only a faint rumble right now, but it has potential to get deafening pretty quickly.