New Report Outlines Insane Number for Connor McDavid's Next Contract

As every team, player, hockey fan—and in particular, agent—knows by now, the NHL's salary cap is about to take some huge jumps in the coming seasons. And with that, contract negotiations for the league's best players will, accordingly, also take some massive leaps.

National Athletic NHL writer and cap specialist Dom Luszczyszyn has asked an eye-popping question about Connor McDavid's next contract. The Edmonton Oilers superstar is up for re-negotiation in the summer. And knowing the new salary cap numbers, what can the greatest player on the planet expect?

McDavid’s next deal will be seismic, there’s no doubt about that. The question is just how high his salary will go. Can he be the NHL’s first $20 million player?

And his answer, with the numbers to prove it, is a resounding YES.

While McDavid’s current $12.5 million cap hit represented 15.72% of the Oilers’ cap when his last contract began, Luszczyszyn calls him "the league’s only blank check player" and projects him to be able to command the maximum of 20% of the cap that a player is allowed to have.

McDavid's extension would kick in in the 2026-27 season, when the cap is projected to be $104 million. McDavid's 20% share of that is... Yup, $20.8 million.

But we also know that the cap is still going to go up from there. $113.5 million is the number slated for 2027-28. And up and up from there.

This means, according to Luszczyszyn, "even the most conservative outlook puts McDavid north of $20 million on a long-term deal." He goes on to note that with a conservative 5% growth of the cap year-over-year, a $20 million AAV contract would be worth a 'mere' 15% of the cap by Year 5 of a new McDavid deal. And he notes that even by Year 2, at the projected $113.5 million cap, it already drops to 17.6%.

Dare we say that the "sticker shock" of a $20 million AAV for McDavid might even be considered somewhat of a bargain as the contract ages?