Keeping salary flat was Connor McDavid’s call entirely, discloses Stan Bowman

As Connor McDavid put pen to paper for the two-year $25M extension, many expected the league’s best player to reset the market again.  Insiders widely projected Connor McDavid’s next deal to set a new salary standard with projections north of at least $15M per season. 

Just last week, Kirill Kaprizov signed an eight-year $136M contract in Minnesota worth $17M annually. Instead of chasing a record payday, McDavid kept his salary flat at $12.5M, a clear choice to give the Edmonton Oilers more cap flexibility and extend their window to win.

According to Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman, that decision came straight from McDavid himself.

McDavid’s set the terms

“That’s a question really more for Connor than us,” Bowman said. “That’s what Connor wanted, and it wasn’t like we made a pitch that he should sign for that amount. We never had those conversations at all.”

Bowman made it clear that McDavid’s deal wasn’t much of a negotiation. Rather than debating money or term, the focus was on the franchise’s vision and competitiveness moving forward.

“It was really more of a dialogue,” he explained. “Usually when you have a negotiation, it’s back and forth about the structure or numbers, that was never talked about. It was about where we were heading as a team, how we’d improve, and the vision for the future.”

McDavid’s agent didn’t prioritize financial decisions

For Bowman, who took over as GM last season, the process was “unprecedented.” McDavid and his agent, Judd Moldaver, didn’t bring up financial terms throughout months of discussion.

“Honestly, I’m being genuine when I say that in every conversation I’ve had with Connor or Judd, we never once talked about money,” Bowman said. “This is a unique situation because it’s not about the money for Connor. It’s about belief in what we’re building.”