The Oilers used the lead-up merely to retain talent. They gave a max-term contract to forward Trent Frederic, gave top dollar to pending RFA Evan Bouchard, and brought back Kasperi Kapanen and Noah Philp on low-cost deals.

The first question hanging out there is contract length. Reports earlier in the offseason suggested McDavid may not even go for the full eight-year deal but rather a shorter four-year pact to get back to free agency when the salary cap has ballooned again.

Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is arguably the best player in the NHL right now. Not everyone will agree with that statement, but he's at the very minimum at the top of the conversation for that title. Unfortunately, he came up just short for the second year in a row when it comes to a championship.