Connor McDavid is still considered the greatest hockey player in the world right now, but after another Stanley Cup Final loss to the Florida Panthers, could his time in Edmonton end with a trade…to Pittsburgh?
“I know it’s bat bleep crazy, but it’s interesting,” said Andrew Fillipponi on Wednesday.
The Oilers have now lost the NFL Final to the Florida Panthers two years in a row, and McDavid is going into the last year of his 8-year, $100 million deal.
ESPN’s Steve Levy was on the Jim Rome Show and said that “there’s an awful lot of talk within the sport that if they don’t win this year, McDavid might look elsewhere.”
Levy added before Game 6 that if the Oilers know they can’t sign him to another extension, will they try to get something for him in a trade?
Pittsburgh-based NHL writer Adam Gretz wrote a list in Bleacher Report of “way-too-early” destinations for McDavid if he does hit the free agency market next summer and the Penguins were one of the teams.
While Gretz believes its most likely the Oilers re-sign McDavid, the Pens are one of the teams that could make a push for the still under 30-year-old.
“Imagine Crosby and McDavid on the same team for a few years before McDavid takes the torch and usher in a new chapter for the Penguins,” writes Gretz. “The Penguins winning the Gavin McKenna lottery and having it play out that way is the more likely scenario, and it would track with the way the Penguins have acquired their previous collection of superstars, but this idea would be fun as well.”
Former Penguin and Stanley Cup champion Tyler Kennedy says if he’s McDavid, he is demanding the Oilers build around him or he would consider leaving.
If it’s a trade, Poni wondered if three first-round draft picks from the Penguins would be enough to sway Edmonton to deal McDavid, or if it would take four or five #1s.
Three, four or five picks, that’s a lot for one year of Connor McDavid.
Listen above as Poni explains how a visit from Sidney Crosby could be enough to lure McDavid to Pittsburgh...IF he wants out of Edmonton.