West Notes: McDavid, Dickinson, Martinez, Johnson

In an interview with Sportsnet’s Scott Oake and Louie DeBrusk, Edmonton Oilers’ General Manager Stan Bowman spoke briefly on the upcoming extension negotiations between the Oilers and franchise superstar, Connor McDavid. As expected, Bowman appeared confident and optimistic about getting a deal done with McDavid and fell just short of guaranteeing it’ll happen during the summer.

Bowman admitted that it’s still early to start discussing negotiations, but he stated, “We all know Connor is going to be here, and we’re going to make it happen.” Besides some speculation, there isn’t much information about McDavid’s second contract extension negotiations, given he’s a few months away from being eligible for one. However, it could become a significant media story over the summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal with Edmonton relatively soon, especially considering the intensity of the Canadian media market.

There’s a solid chance that McDavid will break a few salary records in his next deal. Next year’s salary cap would allow McDavid to earn a maximum of $19.1MM on an extension, and could get closer to $21MM should he wait until late June of 2026. The healthy increase in next year’s salary cap should allow McDavid to beat out teammate Leon Draisaitl’s $14MM salary as the highest AAV in NHL history, and he could tie or break Alex Ovechkin’s largest total contract record should he earn $15.5MM or more on an eight-year term.

Other notes from the NHL’s Western Conference:

• The Chicago Blackhawks lost a pair of players during yesterday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues, announcing forward Jason Dickinson and defenseman Alec Martinez had each left the game due to injuries. Chicago hasn’t provided any meaningful updates to either player’s status at the time of writing, and both are questionable for today’s afternoon contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. Neither Dickinson nor Martinez played in more than five minutes of yesterday’s contest, and the pair went scoreless.
• Despite not having trade protection in his contract, the Philadelphia Flyers’ General Manager, Daniel Brière, treated veteran defenseman Erik Johnson as if he had a full no-movement clause. According to Luke Fox from Sportsnet, Brière received more interest in Johnson; however, he only wanted to return to the Colorado Avalanche or remain in Philadelphia. Fox quoted Johnson saying, “There’s nowhere else I would be willing to go. I really enjoyed my time in Philly, and love the guys, love the city, love my role there. And I said, if something would work with Colorado, that would be the only way I would be willing to leave.”