Connor McDavid Trapped Himself Out of an Oilers Trade Request

Connor McDavid’s two-year, $25 million extension with the Oilers is the kind of short-term commitment that puts Edmonton on notice and will keep fans on the edge of their seats. The feeling has been that at any time he could decide the Oilers don’t have it and want out. After back-to-back Stanley Cup Final losses to Florida, and management building a team last year that wasn’t as good, it would be hard to fault him.

However, this season, McDavid has put himself in a position where he can technically tell the Oilers he’d like a trade, but he won’t. In fact, if he tried, he’d be wrecking his legacy because this season, the Oilers gave him exactly what he wanted.

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If Edmonton’s championship window slams shut, McDavid will be partly to blame, and he won’t have a clean narrative for requesting a trade. That’s because he was directly involved in bringing in Mike Babcock as head coach this offseason — a controversial hire given Babcock’s history of strained relationships with players in Toronto and Columbus.

Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson and GM Stan Bowman confirmed McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman “were involved and made their opinion known” during the hiring process. Babcock said that leadership group came to him and he laid out that if “Your not 100 percent in on Mike Babcock, Mike Babcock has no interest in being the coach.” They bought in and ever since, McDavid and company have publicly gone to bat for their decision.

Babcock himself said that a meeting with the three stars before his hiring convinced him to return to coaching, adding that they told him bluntly: “We have to be better, and we expect you to make us better.” If this doesn’t work out, whose fault is it? Do we blame the coach? Or, do we blame the players, all of whom should have known this was a potentially huge mistake?

McDavid will get his win if he’s right. He’ll have to eat crow if he’s wrong. What he can’t do is bail. There’s very little chance that McDavid goes to management after telling them to hire Babcock, and then says, ‘You know what? I was wrong, I’d like to be traded now.’

That’s a very different situation from previous Oilers coaching changes, where McDavid played a passive role. If Babcock’s old-school approach backfires — and given his track record, that risk is real — McDavid can’t credibly blame the front office alone. He signed off on this.

It leaves McDavid in a tough spot. You can’t say change is needed, tell the world you want to be pushed, and then tell the team you’re planning to walk away when it doesn’t go well.

The Oilers were eliminated in the first round by Anaheim last season, and there’s no guarantee Babcock reverses that trend. But having endorsed the hire, McDavid effectively removed his own escape hatch. A trade request now would be an admission that his own judgment about the coaching change was wrong, complicating any legacy he built as the guy who helped choose the man meant to get Edmonton over the hump.

Next: Do the Oilers Have a Second “Miracle” Trade In Them This Summer?