Just over two weeks ago Connor McDavid was named the NHL’s most valuable player.
Today, the Edmonton Oilers captain is the league’s most expensive player.
The 20-year-old McDavid has signed an eight-year contract extension with Edmonton worth $100 million. That works out to an average annual salary of $12.5 million.
The deal takes effect at the start of the 2018/19 NHL season and will be worth $2 million more than the current highest paid players, Chicago’s Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and Montreal’s Carey Price.
Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli said McDavid could have earned a bigger annual paycheque on a shorter-term contract but added that McDavid wants the team to be able to build a winner.
To say McDavid had a career year is an understatement. He won the Art Ross Trophy for having the most points (100) this past season as well as the Ted Lindsey Award, the MVP as voted by his peers, and he will grace the cover of the NHL 18 video game.
He’s the face of the Oilers and soon to be the face of the National Hockey League, at least when Sidney Crosby decides to hang up his skates or see his skills dramatically decline.
The most interesting part of McDavid’s contract extension is that it is only for eight years. He will be 29 when the deal expires.
That means Edmonton’s window to win the Stanley Cup is basically a decade, after which, McDavid will certainly cash in on another mega deal, perhaps with another team.
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