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Oilers’ Connor McDavid becomes highest-paid player in NHL after signing 8-year, $100 million extension

By Chris Gordon

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July 5, 2017 4:26 pm

The NHL has a new highest-paid player. He is 20.

Late in the morning on the West Coast, the Edmonton Oilers announced they had re-signed Connor McDavid, a generational player, to an eight-year, $100 million contract beginning in the 2018-19 season. McDavid will now make an average of $12,500,000 per year, more than any player in the league right now. According to CapFriendly, his future salary cap hit is $2 million higher than the next highest-paid players, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Carey Price.

“I’m so excited to wear the Oilers jersey for the next nine years of my life,” McDavid told reporters during a press conference to announce the deal.

Despite the Oilers struggles throughout the last decade, the wunderkind center is confident the team will continue to improve. That’s mostly because of him.

After McDavid was named the youngest captain in NHL history at the beginning of the season, the first overall draft pick in 2015 lit up the scoreboard. He registered 70 assists and 30 goals, running away with the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading point scorer. McDavid also won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP and the Ted Lindsey Award, which the league’s MVP as voted on by his peers. This past season, the Oilers made the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

“We’ve developed a good team here,” McDavid said. “Sure, it’s just been one year but we’re on the right track.”

McDavid has one year left on his entry-level deal that pays him a base salary of $925,000, with bonuses ramping it up to $3,775,000. He was limited to just 45 games in his rookie season after fracturing his collarbone crashing into the boards. McDavid still managed to put up 48 points and was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

Barely more than a teenager, McDavid has turned into perhaps the best player in the NHL — and he may not even be in his prime yet. This is an unprecedented deal for an unprecedented player.

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