A 6-6-4 start to the 2025-26 NHL season wasn’t what Connor McDavid had in mind when re-signing with the Edmonton Oilers. As the organization wanders in the league, the captain took it upon himself to send a clear message across the locker room.
The Oilers had hoped their bad start to the NHL campaign was only a phase. However, as McDavid and company have yet to figure things out, concerns are only growing louder around the Gateway to the North. Now, the best player in the league is taking matters into his own hands—or rather, into his mouth.
“Enough is enough here and we have to find a way to just put a good game together. We talk about in here [that] everybody is trying to bring something,” McDavid admitted, via NHL.com.
“Even if it’s not in your nature to be the loudest guy, you have to try a little bit. If it’s not in your nature to play a physical game, you have to try a little bit. We all have a hand in bringing just a little bit more emotionally, physically and just to our game as a whole. Everybody has a little bit more to give, and I expect everyone to have a good one.”
Mea culpa
With McDavid in town, Edmonton has grown accustomed to seeing NHL and franchise records broken on a regular basis. However, all the Oilers managed after losing 9-1 to the Colorado Avalanche was tie the team’s all-time worst defeat. Following such a disheartening result, head coach Kris Knoblauch fired a candid message to the team, and McDavid couldn’t stay idle any longer.
Though McDavid’s admission includes a bold reminder for his teammates, the Oilers’ captain didn’t exempt himself from the ongoing situation. In times where Edmonton needs a hero, McDavid knows all eyes are upon him. Nothing farther from shying away, the 28-year-old star is embracing his responsibilities.
“It’s been flat. That starts with me as a leader,” McDavid commented on the Oilers’ performance. “There has maybe not been enough energy, not enough emotion, and we have to find a way to bring some of that into the game.”
Same old
Perhaps the biggest reason behind McDavid signing for $12.5 million per year was to give the Oilers enough flexibility to make moves and build a winning team around their star. However, that hasn’t been the case.
Through 16 games this NHL season, McDavid leads the team with 22 points (5G, 17A). Leon Draisaitl (18), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (16), and Evan Bouchard (10) follow him. Beyond that, no other player has reached double digits in points, and only one—Jack Roslovic—has operated at a 0.5-point-per-game pace.
Needless to say, Edmonton is stumbling over the same old stone once again. Much can be said about goaltending being the team’s kryptonite, but the lack of depth throughout the lineup is equally to blame—and the Oilers don’t seem to acknowledge it.
New day, new headache
With Zach Hyman yet to make his season debut and Knoblauch confirming that Nugent-Hopkins will be out for at least a week, the pressure on McDavid and Draisaitl’s shoulders only grows heavier. If the past two seasons haven’t provided enough evidence that this top-heavy approach doesn’t work, then nothing might send that message in Edmonton.
By the time the Oilers realize it and act accordingly, McDavid may no longer be under contract. The championship window is still open in Edmonton—but it has an expiration date: the summer of 2028, when McDavid’s two-year contract extension expires.