Early Trading: The Insiders talk McDavid's future, salary cap and expansion
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The TSN Hockey Insiders join Gino Reda from Day 2 of the NHL Board of Governors meetings to discuss Connor McDavid's future in Edmonton with one year left on his deal after this season, the possibility of a big increase in the salary cap, talks of further expansion and more.
Gino Reda: When you walk around the Board of Governors meetings you tend to have some interesting conversations, like the one you had this morning with [Edmonton Oilers CEO of Operations] Jeff Jackson on Connor McDavid’s future in Edmonton.
Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavidPierre LeBrun: Yeah, it was part of a larger sit down interview for a piece in The Athletic later this week but obviously I had to ask about the franchise, the best player in the world because we all know that he has one year left on his deal after this season. The reality is that Jeff Jackson said they have not started any type of contract negotiations or conversations on that front. He can’t sign until July 1 anyways.
It’s similar to the path, I think, we saw with Leon Draisaitl last year in which Draisaitl wanted to focus on hockey and the season before getting into it after the year. That’s the sense we get now with Connor McDavid. There’s no hurry to get into this. There’s a season to play out, there’s a focus on getting the Oilers back to the Stanley Cup Final, and then everyone involved is comfortable having that conversation.
One thing that Jeff Jackson re-iterated is, July 1 is not a deadline. Whether an extension gets done July 1 or later in the summer, so be it. Everyone should calm down and Oilers nation should realize it’ll get done when it gets done. Obviously that’s what OIlers fans hope.
Could we be ready to see the single biggest increase in the salary cap since pre-COVID days?
Chris Johnston: Well, could is the operative word here. The existing agreement now between the players and the owners is that it would go up by five percent, that being that cap for next year. That takes you to a $92 million cap for next year.
But, because we’re on the verge of collective bargaining talks beginning in the new year with the players and owners there's a possibility that perhaps instead of waiting for the system to reset itself and getting one big jump, that they could negotiate a softer launch up. I think that will be a huge discussion point today at the Board of Governors meetings, just how that might work.
For a player like McDavid or Kirill Kaprizov or other big-name players that want to sign, I don't think any team is going to be able to sign them until those players have clarity on where the cap's going and what the new CBA might look like.
There are a lot of moving parts on the business end of the league right now.
Reda: The potential of the cap going up just reiterates the fact that revenues are increasing which makes franchises more valuable which makes them that much more attractive. So people are interested in expansion, Dregs? Every time we have one of these meetings, the "E" word comes up.
Darren Dreger: You can't escape a board of governors meeting here in Florida without talking about expansion and you'll get the eye roll from commissioner Gary Bettman, of course. Look, when you talk to some of the owners, the governors who represent their clubs here, they do feel that further expansion is inevitable.
What they don't know is: What does the timeline look like on that? For example, there is a group here representing the interest of Atlanta. Nothing formal, but making sure they're getting in front of the right influential owners, lets say, just to make sure everybody understands that the interest is real and the opportunity in and around Atlanta is real.
Then the obvious questions come up beyond that. If expansion is inevitable, how many years from now? Are you talking about two teams? Are you going from 32 to 34? If that happens, obviously you finally have to address the matrix of the playoffs. 16 teams isn't going to cut it. Do you go to 20? Good luck getting an answer that matters out of commissioner Bettman on that one because we know he pushes back hard.
LeBrun: And I think, Dregs, to your point, one of the reasons why expansion isn't officially on the agenda this week, the reason they can't dive in further is a very practical one, they have to get a CBA done. From a point of view of focus, energy and league staff, the CBA has to be the only focus before you get to the expansion so it's one foot in front of the other.
Johnston: The reason it will happen though? That next fee is going to be monumental. Some people say $2 billion. I don't know if it will get to that level but that's the reason it's happening eventually. It just could take some time.