Connor McDavid drops hint about future and it's exactly what Chris Drury wanted to hear

The 2024-25 NHL season ended on Tuesday with the Florida Panthers defeating Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers for a second consecutive season. On Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers met with the media for a final time this season. One hot topic that was expected to come up was McDavid and his pending free agency in 2026 as the NHL star will be entering the final year of his current contract on July 1. At that point he is eligible to sign an extension, one expected to be the most lucrative in NHL history, but there are no guarantees such a deal will be signed with the only team he's ever known.

At this time of year it is easy to hang on a player's words and make something of it. That's NHL silly season for you, but if you are a fan of the Rangers, you'd be lying if McDavid's comments weren't music to President and General Manager Chris Drury's ears.

"It's only been a couple of days since the season ended. Take some time to regroup, talk to my agent a little bit and family and all that, and make some decisions whenever that time comes. But there's no rush on anything like that."

Connor McDavid

McDavid is fresh off a second straight loss in the Stanley Cup Final, and he's obviously still processing that. The last thing he wants to think about is the future, and he wishes right now he was preparing for a Game 7 on home ice. He's not, and we are left with McDavid talking about the concept of unfinished business and wanting to win, but qualifying that with what's best for him and his family being more important and there being no rush to make a decision.

There obviously remains a big chance that McDavid remains with the Oilers for the entirety of his career. Jeff Jackson, McDavid's former agent, is the CEO of the Oilers. Kris Knoblauch, McDavid's coach in the OHL, was hired last season in season and has since led the team to back-to-back Western Conference titles. The Oilers have a very good team, and after two loses in the final you'd think they would do what it takes to create a better version of their roster that enables them to get the job done once and for all... and convince McDavid to stay.

None of that matters to someone like Drury though. The fact that McDavid is at the very least undecided on what his future looks like is a reason to start preparing for the potential he becomes available. That could mean sitting out of this year's free agency and avoiding signing someone like Vladislav Gavrikov to a big contract that would take away valuable cap space for the 2026-27 season and beyond.

Right now the Rangers have $16,619,643 in cap space remaining, and their current free agents include Will Cuylle (RFA), Adam Edstrom (RFA), Arthur Kaliyev (RFA), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (UFA), K'Andre Miller (RFA), Zac Jones (RFA), and Calvin de Haan (UFA). Of this list, Cuylle is the one who could be interesting to deal with because of the potential of an offer sheet. Miller is someone the Rangers are likely to trade, and everyone else will either walk or be retained for minimal money.

Next summer Artemi Panarin, Jonathan Quick, Jonny Brodzinski, and Carson Soucy will be UFAs, and Braden Schneider will be an RFA. Any player that signs a one-year deal this summer will need to be retained, but other than that there is no major business for the team to take care of. In many ways it is almost if the team was preparing all along for a summer when McDavid and others could become available.

In addition to McDavid, Jack Eichel and Kirill Kaprizov are set to hit the market, and the Rangers would love to land any one of these players. Financially they are positioned very well to be in the market for one of these mega stars, and that underscores the importance of abstaining from spending foolishly this summer. The Rangers need to improve, but they'd be better served working around the edges and seeing what effect Mike Sullivan has on the existing roster and if installing a new system can raise the floor of the squad.

The Rangers want to get back to elite contention, and there's a fine line to walk. They need to have a productive and successful 2025-26 season, because they need to prove that they are capable of winning so that McDavid would considers signing there. That means they just can't punt on improvements this summer. McDavid's latest comments certainly must change the equation for the Blueshirts and how they go about doing that. At the very least this news certainly gives fans something new to dream about, but the odds of him eventually joining the Rangers are likely higher on June 19, 2025 than they might have been on June 18.