MVP McDavid signs 8-year Oilers deal
The Edmonton Oilers have signed NHL Most Valuable Player Connor McDavid to an eight-year, $100 million deal, the team said Wednesday.
McDavid led the NHL in scoring with 100 points last season and won the Hart Trophy (league MVP) and Ted Lindsay Award (top player, as voted by fellow players).
Drafted first overall by the Oilers in 2015, McDavid, 20, has been the catalyst of Edmonton’s transformation from league bottom dweller to contender. With McDavid leading the way, the Oilers reached the playoffs for the first time in a decade last season, eliminating the Sharks before falling in seven games to Anaheim in the second round.
The contract makes McDavid the highest-paid player in the NHL on an annual basis ($12.5 million per season).
Forward Zach Hyman, who would have become an unrestricted free agent after the coming season, signed a $10 million, four-year contract extension with Toronto.
The New York Rangers re-signed restricted free-agent forward Jesper Fast to a threeyear contract worth $1.85 million annually, and signed free-agent center David Desharnais to a one-year, $1 million deal. Fast is expected to be sidelined for five months after hip surgery in early June.
Goalie Reto Berra signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks, using an out clause to return to North America less than three months after agreeing to a three-year deal with FribourgGotteron in his native Switzerland’s top league.