McDavid Trade Rumours Are Getting Out of Hand

It’s August. The NHL season is still weeks away. There aren’t many games to talk about, so naturally, the hockey rumour machine has decided Connor McDavid might be playing somewhere other than Edmonton. And not just one destination.

In the most recent NHL Trade Talk: The Podcast - Episode 32, the panel discussed all the places that McDavid was rumoured to be heading. Toronto has been mentioned. Philadelphia has been mentioned. New York has been mentioned. Detroit has been mentioned. At this point, it feels like McDavid is being traded to half the league.

That’s when you know the McDavid rumours are getting a little out of hand.

McDavid rumours aren't new. Every summer, somebody finds a reason to wonder whether the best player in the world might eventually decide he wants out of Edmonton. And sure, there is a perfectly reasonable question underneath all of it.

McDavid wants to win. So does Edmonton. The problem is that some of the teams being mentioned don't really make much sense if winning is supposed to be the priority.

Philadelphia? Detroit? Those are interesting destinations, but neither team is currently closer to a Stanley Cup than Edmonton. The Oilers have been to the Stanley Cup Final twice in recent years. Whatever problems Edmonton has, it's still a team that has shown it can get there.

The Rangers are a little different. New York is obviously a huge hockey market, and if you're going to start imagining a McDavid trade, it's easy to understand why that destination gets thrown into the conversation. But there's still a pretty important detail being ignored.

McDavid just signed a two-year extension with Edmonton.

And he didn't exactly make the Oilers pay a premium to keep him. That doesn't look like somebody preparing to force his way out the door. Could things change? Absolutely.

If the Mike Babcock experiment goes badly, if the Oilers take a major step backward, or if McDavid starts to believe the organization simply can't build a championship team around him, then maybe the conversation changes. But that's a conversation for later.

Right now, there isn't much evidence that McDavid wants out. And that's really the point here. There's a difference between asking whether something could happen and having a reason to believe it will actually happen.

Right now, the McDavid trade rumours belong firmly in the first category. It's August and fans need something to talk about. Apparently, trading Connor McDavid to every NHL city is what we've got.