Connor McDavid has free rein in the City of Edmonton.

His wife has established multiple businesses there, including her own design company and playing a part in opening a downtown bar. Her high-end clothing brand, Sports Club Atelier, not only has partnered with the Edmonton Oilers on merchandise, but now has rodeo apparel, too, with the Canadian Finals Rodeo coming this fall.

The Oilers captain has influence in the front office, his former agent as the CEO of the organization’s hockey department, and his best friend Leon Draisaitl is already locked up in Edmonton for eight more years.

The team on ice, for as long as it’s taken them, has made it to the Stanley Cup Final for two straight years, something 16 organizations have done 39 times. All it’s ever been for him has been about winning, and the Oilers have been as close as you could come to winning.

It’s why the idea of him not signing a contract extension before the regular season seems so odd.

He said in his season-ending press conference before the draft and free agency, he feels the team can be “really good again next year,” and that “we’re worried about next year, and that’s the only focus.”

Is it possible that McDavid’s mind changed that much over the course of the summer? There’s no denying there’s turnover in the roster, with Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson departing in trades as Corey Perry, Connor Brown, John Klingberg, Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan all went their own separate ways.

But McDavid knows the business side of the game, and the front office worked to replace them, bringing in the youthful Ike Howard, as well as signing Andrew Mangiapane, Curtis Lazar, and re-signing Trent Frederic, Kasperi Kapanen, and Noah Philp while extending Evan Bouchard — something McDavid advocated for.

Could his biggest concern be that the Oilers haven’t upgraded on Stuart Skinner, who McDavid himself has steadfastly backed for years?

I don’t buy it.

The organization has been nearly entirely rebuilt in the decade since he arrived, with an expanding downtown Ice District around the arena, as well as a front office more tuned into understanding player development and acquisition more than ever before. To be frank, it’s hard to imagine there being another organization that would fit him better than this one.

The easy thought in all of this could be that he’s trying to gain leverage, but that sparks a question in and of itself: what leverage is there to gain? For all the reasons listed above, McDavid has very little he could hold as leverage over the organization, which is essentially at his beck and call. He’s as important in that organization as anybody, and the organization has shown that over the years.

If his comments from last week about having “every intention to win in Edmonton” are nothing but a blatant lie, and he does wish to play for another organization — which there’s no reason to believe is actually the case — then that’s a whole other story in and of itself.

McDavid’s been well known for years to hate the spotlight on himself, though with each massive moment or milestone he’s opened up more and more. The longer he goes without an extension, whether that’s captain’s skates, training camp, the pre-season, regular season or beyond, the noise is only going to get louder and louder. It won’t just be in Edmonton, either, as every radio show, podcast and media outlet will talk about it.

How does it all end? By putting pen to paper and committing to Edmonton as its committed to him.

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.