OILERS STARS KIND OF A BIG DEAL — ON THE ICE AND ON THE CAP
New contracts for McDavid, Draisaitl will have repercussions around NHL
By the time Connor McDavid’s new eight-year, US$100-million contract expires, his playoff beard should be far bushier than the peach fuzz-like facial hair he sported this past spring.
From the Edmonton Oilers’ standpoint, call it an investment in the future.
By shelling out long-term deals to both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (eight years, US$68 million) this summer, general manager Peter Chiarelli is putting his money into the growth of two franchise players who are barely removed from their teenage years.
In the process, Chiarelli symbolized a trend that is taking over the league: teams locking up uber-talented kids to lengthy pacts, even if their bodies of work, however impressive to date, have only been accrued over a couple of years.
On Tuesday, as he addressed a gaggle of reporters during the BioSteel Pro Hockey camp in Toronto, McDavid admitted to being “excited” at spending much of the next decade leading the Oilers to hopeful success alongside Draisaitl.
He should be. And so, too, should many of the budding NHL stars who are 22 and under.
With the NHL more and more becoming a young man’s league, teams are now rewarding the studs of tomorrow with huge monetary rewards in order to maintain control of their assets. As such, Chiarelli is willing to deal with the complications of having two players chew up $21 million in cap space if it means having his young foundation solidified for years to come.
“I think that’s one of the main things management wanted to do, is get that core locked up for a long time,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, 22, said Tuesday. “For us as a team, it’s definitely exciting, especially knowing that two of the top players in the league are going to be there for a long time.
“It motivates everyone to continue to work and try and be a part of that for a long time.”
It’s a recipe you can expect to see being adopted more and more throughout the league. Indeed, youth will be served. It already is.
When Sidney Crosby signed his 12-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2012, he was 24 at the time and had already played under two previous NHL contracts. Teammate Evgeni Malkin was 26 when he inked his eight-year contract, also the third of his career.
In Chicago, Patrick Kane was 25 and Jonathan Toews was 26 when they agreed to their identical eight-year, $84-million pacts with the Blackhawks in the summer of 2014. Keep in mind that Crosby, Malkin, Kane and Toews had already won Stanley Cups in their careers when they snapped up their long-term deals.
For all they’ve accomplished in their young careers, McDavid and Draisaitl have not. At least not yet.
It’s a gamble Chiarelli is willing to take. And he’s not the only one.
Just down the road in Calgary, Flames GM Brad Treliving was similarly proactive in solidifying his team’s backbone last year, giving Sean Monahan a seven-year deal and Johnny Gaudreau a sixyear pact. Monahan was just 21 when he signed; Gaudreau 23.
Of course, the basic difference in the Alberta teams: Gaudreau and Monahan will combine for a $13.125-million cap hit this season, almost $8 million less than Edmonton is on the hook for with the McDavid-Draisaitl pairing.
In any event, this much is certain: the financial bar certainly has been raised for the likes of the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, 19, Mitch Marner, 20, William Nylander, 21, and Jets sniper Patrik Laine, 19. Indeed, the moment the Oilers’ signings of McDavid and Draisaitl were finalized, questions immediately exploded throughout Toronto and Winnipeg about how much their young hockey stars would be paid in their next contracts.
Truth be told, they should all be sending thank you notes to McDavid and Draisaitl, who have kept in touch via text and social media this summer.
“It’s exciting to think about playing with Leon for the next eight, nine years, however long it is,” McDavid said. “He’s a fun guy to play with.
“To have two young guys locked up like that and have the pieces that we do, it’s exciting.”
The bottom line is simple. On the ice, count on McDavid and Draisaitl to give opponents headaches. Off the ice, their mammoth contracts will supply NHL GMs with migraines of their own as they are forced to cough up more and more money to retain their young talent. Welcome to the new NHL.
I think that’s one of the main things management wanted to do, is get that core locked up for a long time.