Words Oilers fans didn’t want to hear this September: Connor McDavid will enter training camp without a contract extension.

It’s as close to a worst-case scenario as could be — for the time being — as The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported Tuesday there wouldn’t be a new contract in place for McDavid when the Edmonton Oilers open training camp Wednesday.

That’s not to say that the Oilers and McDavid are in a bad place, but the superstar has his concerns, namely, an aging roster.

“The lack of an extension does not speak to any disconnect on terms or structure,” said Johnston. “There has remained a consistent and cordial dialogue between Oilers management, McDavid and agent Judd Moldaver throughout the summer, and McDavid has been given a respectable amount of space while weighing the biggest professional decision of his life.

“His biggest point of reticence, per league sources, remains an aging roster, which he believes can contend again in 2025-26 but which doesn’t look to be constructed to sustain a championship level over the long term. And he more or less said as much publicly in June, telling reporters, ‘If I feel that there’s a good window to win here over and over again, then signing is no problem.'”

McDavid remains open to different types of contracts, Johnston reported, who had one executive tell him, “Who would bat an eye if he took two years at $15 million?”

The Oilers’ faith in getting a deal done remains unwavering both publicly and privately, Johnston added, with recent comments from CEO Jeff Jackson expressing as much.

This summer saw the Oilers take steps to reduce the age of their roster and add to their prospect pool. Corey Perry, 40, Evander Kane, 34, John Klingberg, 33, Jeff Skinner, 33, Viktor Arvidsson, 32, and Connor Brown, 31, are all players the Oilers either traded this summer or allowed to sign with other teams in free agency.

The free agent signings of Andrew Mangiapane, 29, and Curtis Lazar, 30, will help reduce the average age of the team slightly from the aforementioned group. Last spring, the team was active in the college and European free agent markets, signing Quinn Hutson, 23, Damien Carfagna, 22, Josh Samanski, 23, Arto Leppanen, 26, and Viljami Marjala, 22, all of whom add to the organizational depth.

Those moves also don’t account for the acquisition of top prospects Ike Howard, 21, and Matthew Savoie, now 21, in each of the last two summers, both of whom are expected to impact the NHL roster this season.

Since Stan Bowman arrived in July 2024, there’s been a notable push in getting the organization younger through moves like these.

Time will tell as to when a deal will be consummated, but there’s no denying the other top flight talent in Edmonton outside of McDavid, with players like Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard around, the window will remain open for this team to win.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.