Insiders believe Maple Leaf is one of the teams waiting for McDavid’s decision – Hockey Writer – Toronto Maple Leaf
Another day, another story speculates what the future of Connor McDavid will look like. After videos of the 32 Ideas Podcast surfaced this morning, he is careful when talking about his future with the Edmonton Oilers, and if he will sign another contract with the organization, another NHL Insider revealed the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that might be interested if the superstar makes its way into the open market.
TSN’s Pierre Lebrun shared insights with athleticism, which shows that there are NHL teams waiting for McDavid’s future to look like before allocating funds this season and beyond.
Maple Leaf Interested in McDavid
LeBron believes that Maple Leaf is one of the teams interested in McDavid, which is not surprising. This is what he said:
“There is no day when Maple Leafs’ front desk doesn’t want to know, heck, I want to know what happened to Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid. Like the other 15 teams around the NHL. Of course, this is the biggest story in the league,” Lebrun said after Maple Leafs media supply. “Because before Connor McDavid made the decision, there were some teams wondering if we had to keep the powder dry in summer 26? There were leaves in the leaves.”
Indeed, almost every NHL team is watching this situation closely and wondering what will happen. If McDavid does make it on the market, it’s very likely that the Maple Leafs are on his roster, especially since that’s his childhood team.
Many reports of his future have surfaced over the past few weeks. Some think it’s stupid to think he can end up being a maple leaf, while others think he’s the opposite.
What would McDavid’s trade look like?
When the Maple Leafs lost Mitch Marner in their logo deal with the Las Vegas Golden Knights this summer, some fans immediately pointed out the summer of 2026 and came up with the idea that the group could land if he was on the open market. While this may be true, it is worth seeing what the contract would actually look like if he became a top free agent.
Related: Maple Leafs’ Advance Logjam: Who stays and who goes?
It’s certain that from Minnesota wild star Kirill Kaprizov reportedly rejected $128 million worth of eight years. This will give him an average annual value (AAV) of $16 million, which will make him the highest-paid player in the NHL. McDavid would almost certainly sign more because he wanted to be the highest salary. If I had to guess, it would be around $133 million in 7 years, carrying $19 million in AAV. With the new CBA, unlimited free agents can sign up to seven years instead of eight years.
With $19 million per season, few teams can make it work properly. But players like McDavid are extremely rare in the open market. Despite the cost, it is not shocking if Maple Leaf finds a way to clear more cap space. As of now, according to Puckpedia, they expect their available space will have $24.8 million by the summer of 2026-27. It will be difficult, but if both sides want this to happen, they will find a way.
