“He’s the one driving the bus on this,” said Pagnotta. “It’s his call when he’s ready to commit. And by commit, I mean in terms of term, because again, I do believe he’s going to. It’s just a matter of when he feels most comfortable, and what direction he wants to go in.

“If he wants to see how the start of the season goes, then that’ll dictate the type of term that he wants to jump in on. Let’s see how the young kids do, how does Savoie do, Howard, and whoever else. How’s the makeup of this team going to be over the course of a season? Zach Hyman, when he does get back, is he going to be back to normal? There are a bunch of different factors here that he’s obviously considering.”

“I think the winning will trigger more than a potential slump to start, because just of how long the season is, and and I think he’s gonna take that into account,” said Pagnotta. “If you get off to a hot start, you’re a little more excited. ‘Okay fine, let’s figure this out.’ If you start 8-12, for example, or something like that, in the first 20, then it gives him a little bit of pause to say ‘Okay, well maybe I just want to do two or three years here, and then just see how things progress’.

“Because if you look at some of the guys on the roster, Hyman’s got a couple years left after this one, Nuge has three. So do you want to say ‘Okay, well I want to take this, at least for now, until the end of this group, the core up front, are together, and then I’ll figure it out later at that point’.

“I’m sure that’s part of the equation as well. There are other players on this team that need contracts going into next season, what’s the future of those guys. Both of [their goaltenders] are also in contract years, so how’s the future of the net going to look for the Oilers?”

“There’s no draft capital,” said Pagnotta. “Other than [Savoie and Howard], what’s the prospect pool look like? There’s not a plethora of talent that’s really coming in here that can substitute some of the guys that end up leaving, be it retirement or free agency. So I think from that perspective, it’s ‘OK, let me sign off for two more versus four more or something like that’.”

“Even in the best cases, they come off, and they’re winning 11 straight to start the season, I don’t see a scenario where you’re going to see Connor in that six or seven year range,” said Pagnotta. “If you’re committing to that, you might as well just go eight, and that’s kind of the indication that I’ve gotten if he’s feeling long-term, it’s the end. It’s eight years.

“If it’s that mid-tier or short-term, I think that’s what’s being juggled the most, and that’s why he’s prefacing this by saying ‘I’m focused on this year. I want us to win this year. And when I decide it’s right or feel it’s right with my wife, my family and everybody, then I’ll commit. But I want to focus on this year’.”