'Greatest thing to happen to the NHL': L.A. hockey analyst pushes for McDavid to follow Gretzky's Cali path

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Connor McDavid is up for a new contract and hockey world is melting down.  Even with numerous assurances from the most credible NHL insiders, such as Frank Seravalli, Elliotte Friedman, and Edmonton’s own Bob Stauffer, that McDavid will sign a new deal in Edmonton, NHL circles pulsate with rumours that McDavid will move on to a new franchise.

Most of the rumour-mongering has been wishful thinking at best, hallucinatory nonsense at worst.

But I think today it’s safe to say we have our winner for the summer of ’25, the single best, most wild-eyed, most over-the-top Connor McDavid fever dream concoction, it coming by way of Dan Powers of the Empty Netters podcast, based in Los Angeles.

On his most recent and highly-entertaining podcast, Powers imagines McDavid following Wayne Gretzky’s path to Tinsel Town: “I have said so many times — and this is not because we live in LA. —  if we saw the King’s Ransom Part 2 and he got traded to LA, it would be the greatest thing to happen to the NHL in 50 years. It would be the greatest story of all time.”

We’ll dig into Powers’ summer McDavid lovin’ in a moment, but I’ll note he’s not the first to go down this path, with a flash flood of McDavid rumours since early June.

June 2: New York Post hockey columnist Larry Brooks wrote that the McDavid free agency question was hanging over the Oilers’ Cup run: “The question is whether No. 97 would be more or less incentivized to leave Edmonton as a free agent next summer, and follow the Messier Route to Broadway with or without a championship.”

Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star joined in: “One of the great quiet hopes in Toronto was always that Edmonton would be incompetent enough — or would stay incompetent enough, after one playoff series in the first six seasons of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — that McDavid, a proud son of Thornhill, would want to come home…. That dream, of course, doesn’t die. McDavid is signed through next season.”

June 17. Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report listed possible landing spots for McDavid as Toronto, Vegas, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston and the New York Rangers.

Said Gretz: “The Rangers have $11 million coming off the books next summer when Artemi Panarin becomes an unrestricted free agent, and they’ll look to move on from Mika Zibanejad’s contract at some point. They could easily create the cap flexibility to sign McDavid.”

June 26. Some of the uproar was fuelled by McDavid himself speaking at his post-Stanley Cup loss press conference, first praising his Oilers and speaking of their will to win, then adding, “With that being said, ultimately, I still need to do what’s best for me and my family. That’s who you have to take care of first.”

McDavid continued: “If I feel that there’s a good window to win here over and over again, then signing is no problem.”

McDavid’s words were followed by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reporting an unnamed NHL insider:”He’s trying to find reasons to stay, not to leave. But everything’s on the table for Connor right now.”

Wyshynski listed possible destinations as Toronto, Los Angeles Kings, the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning.

July 21. On the Steve Dangle podcast, NHL insider Chris Johnston listed possible destinations as the Los Angeles, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay.

“I’m sure it has occurred to the Los Angeles Kings. I’m sure it has occurred to the New York Rangers. You don’t think Julien BriseBois down in Tampa Bay is looking at his long-term roster? Obviously, there’s 31 teams that would like to have him, but there’s probably 10 teams that would think they’d be in the running if they ever got a chance.”

Aug. 1: On the Leafs Morning Take podcast, former NHLer Jay Rosehill said Toronto was the only real option for McDavid if he were to leave Edmonton: “I have no idea where Connor McDavid head is at. I mean, I think that the chance of him leaving is small, but if he does leave, I think Toronto is the only destination that he would go to.”

The Empty Netters McD in L.A. riff

Back to the Empty Netters podcast, where Dan Powers’ McDavid-to-Los Angeles fantasy was shared by his guest, former NHLer James Wisniewski.

Said Wisniewski: “Do you think Edmonton’s going to have a duplicate Wayne Gretzky? Let’s talk about this. I think it’s going to happen.”

He predicted riots in Edmonton if McDavid went to L.A. “I’m being serious. I think they would have riots. Because the whole city burns down.”

Added Powers: “Edmonton would cease to exist.”

Powers then continued, spelling out the Doom’s Day scenario for Edmonton and the Oilers: “Wayne wins four Cups there in Edmonton. He’s the golden son, obviously… I think you could make the argument that as far as the stakes — because they (the Oilers) haven’t won (with McDavid) — Connor might mean more to the city of Edmonton than Wayne did. Because like, Wayne left. They dipped into obscurity… So like, if (McDavid) leaves when they’re on the cusp of maybe being relevant again, it might be more catastrophic. It would be horrifying.”

Said Wisniewski: “It would be like our Lord and Savior coming back and dying again. Exactly.”

My take

1. Los Angeles has lost in the first round of the playoffs four years in a row to the Oilers. Could it be that the handful of hardcore hockey folks there are becoming somewhat unhinged by Oilers envy?

2. The latest solid prediction on McDavid’s contract comes from the Journal’s Jim Matheson, who said McDavid will sign a three or four year deal in Edmonton before training camp starts. Until that happens, though, we can expect more fantasy, more hallucination and more wishful thinking from folks around the NHL.

And who can blame them?

Connor McDavid is hockey’s best player. Of course other fanbases covet him.

3. One more thought: if McDavid did decide to leave Edmonton, some folks would indeed lose their minds momentarily, but I doubt there would be riots. This would be different than the shock of Peter Pocklington selling Wayne Gretzky, or the pain of Chris Pronger leaving after he’d just signed a long-term contract here and led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final.

We all know by now that players are free to leave a city when they become Unrestricted Free Agents. If McDavid did so that would hurt, but it’s his life, his choice. If he figures that it’s best for him and his family to leave, I would not prefer that but I would respect that. I think a large faction of Oilers fans would feel the same.

4. Finally, there’s no replicating what Wayne Gretzky meant to the city of Edmonton, nor the anguish it caused here when Pocklington sold him to L.A. and the Kings soon-to-be-jailed con artist owner Bruce McNall.

For all its existence, from frontier trading post to bustling oil and gas boom town, Edmonton had craved the status of an NHL franchise. We were crazy for what Montreal and Toronto had. The city felt small, rejected and incomplete, especially given the religious zeal Canadians have for the game and the fact of Western alienation.

Edmonton got its NHL team in 1979 for two reasons, first, because of Pocklington’s vision and will power and, second, because Pocklington had a contract with Wayne Gretzky, whom the NHL dearly coveted.

To go from that kind of obscurity to having the best NHL team in league history, with five Stanley Cup wins in ten years, was a high that can’t be replicated. It was beyond imagining, beyond a feel good Canadian Cinderella story. The glory raised up Edmonton as high as any Canadian city has ever been.

You think the Vegas expansion story is cool? It is. It’s remarkable but you can’t compare it to Edmonton’s hockey miracle of the 1980s.

That said, if McDavid and Draisaitl can lead their own Oilers team to ultimate victory in the far more competitive NHL of the 2020s that would indeed be sweet given how hard the two have worked through their lives for such a triumph. Everyone in Edmonton would feel great on their behalf.

At the Cult of Hockey

‘Two major problem contracts’: Oilers doing well with salary cap, but not perfect

‘If you want to win that is not the guy’: ex-NHL vet rips Oilers signing power play ace

Have Oilers discovered a great candidate to bring what Perry and Kane brought?

McDavid’s real value is $50 million per year, NHL insider speculates