Insider Trading: Oilers await word on extent of McDavid’s injury

TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss the latest on the injured Oilers captain, Edmonton’s inability to score, an NHL/Olympic deal close to being done, a potential 4 Nations role on Team Sweden for Daniel Alfredsson, why salary deferral is unlikely to grow in popularity in the NHL, and PWHL expansion.

What’s the latest we have on Connor McDavid’s status?

Connor McDavid OilersChris Johnston: The expectation remains that it won’t be until Wednesday that we get a formal update in terms of what Connor McDavid is dealing with and how long he might be out of the Edmonton Oilers lineup. The main reason is that he and the Oilers are still getting to the bottom of that situation. 

He flew back on Tuesday from Nashville, where the team was, to Edmonton. It gave him a chance to get some imaging done and consult with the team’s medical staff and from that point they’ll be able to determine exactly what kind of injury he’s dealing with and what kind of timeline he’s looking at for how long he’ll be out of the Oilers’ lineup.

I think we can infer that it’s not an insignificant injury. The fact that he’s had to travel back to Edmonton and, in the short term, the team has recalled a couple of players from the American Hockey League to fill his spot in the lineup while we await the news on how long he’ll be out of the lineup.

Darren Dreger: That should be enough to worry about for Oilers’ brass but really, there was another concerning game on Monday night for the Oilers in many different factors. The fact that they cannot create any offence is, right now, the biggest concern for this group. 

Management isn’t pushing any panic buttons. They believe and remain confident that the offensive leaders will find their way. But if you look at the offensive categories around the National Hockey League, for the most part, you can appreciate why Stan Bowman and company are confident. Yes, they rank last in actual goals scored, but they’re number one in shot attempts, number one in offensive zone possession time, and top-five in expected goals and slot shots. The message internally is just to find a way to score and to finish the play.

Yes, the temperature is rising among ownership but there’s no urgency at this point to seek any outside help. 

Puck drop in the Four Nations Face-Off is just about four months away, but we’re also a step closer to official Olympic involvement for February 2026?

Olympic hockeyPierre LeBrun: The NHL and the NHLPA announced that they were going to the Olympics last February at All-Star Weekend in Toronto, but the fact remained that the NHL, NHLPA, IOC, and IIHF had to hammer out an actual agreement, like they always do, when the NHL players participate. 

That has taken a number of months, zoom calls, and in-person meetings but they are very, very close is what multiple sources have told me. They’re basically one meeting away from tying a bow on the agreement. An agreement, by the way, that while it’s only for the Olympics in 2026, can be the basis for the 2030 Winter Games agreement as well, once they turn their eyes to that.

Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden are getting set to announce their rosters for the Four Nations Face-off. Are the Swedes getting help from an Ottawa Senators legend?

Daniel Alfredsson Ottawa SenatorsLeBrun: I had a chance to chat with Swedish coach Sam Hallam and he confirmed that he’s picking the brain of Daniel Alfredsson and, as he said, ‘Why wouldn’t he?’ The guy played in five Olympics and knows a thing or two about best-on-best hockey. 

He also said they are in conversations with Alfredsson to see if there’s a more formal role that can be agreed to for the Four Nations Cup and beyond. But for now, they’re taking advantage of a Hall-of-Famer who’s on an NHL bench every night for Ottawa watching other Swedish players. He’s been a really good resource for the Swedish head coach. 

Jake McCabe’s new deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs includes some deferred salary. What are the chances that this becomes a pattern?

Jake McCabe Toronto Maple LeafsDreger: I think it’s relatively slim because we are, for the most part, looking at a very specific player or, as one agent describes, hyper-specific. Jake McCabe is approaching the latter stages of his career. The back-and-forth of the negotiation to extend wasn’t moving until he was willing to defer some salary. That got his AAV up to a point that he could live with and a cap hit that works for the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Conversely, you look at Seth Jarvis, a younger player with the Carolina Hurricanes. This one is a bit of a head-scratcher for a lot of agents because the big chunk that he deferred to 2032 is $15.67 million. So there are some tax benefits for these things, but I don’t think it’s going to happen often. 

What I do know though is that it will be a topic of discussion in the next round of CBA negotiations. 

The PWHL announced they will be adding two expansion teams for the 2025-26 season. Is this a sign of interest in the league right now?

Johnston: They’ve had a massive amount of informal interest even though they’re just through one season of existence and now they’re going to formalize that process.  

The league will put out requests for proposals to have these various cities that have interest formally say they want to be a part of it. 

They’ll look at things like the media size, the population, the facilities, and all those things and make a judgement at some point down the road. It is good news for the PWHL.
If you look at places that might work: Quebec City is showing interest, Detroit and Pittsburgh had neutral site games, and there will be many cities beyond that vying to get a team.