- NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek names the Flyers, Red Wings and Rangers as McDavid trade destinations
- No trade request exists and McDavid is under contract through 2027-28 at $12.5 million
- Read below for what Hradek said about the Rangers and why he thinks winning decides it
The Connor McDavid trade talk no longer needs a trade request to keep itself alive.
NHL Network analyst E.J. Hradek went on the Bleed Oil Blue Podcast and named three teams he believes the Oilers captain would be open to if he ever leaves Edmonton: the Philadelphia Flyers, the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Rangers. Hradek was clear that he does not have a close relationship with McDavid and was passing along what a couple of different sources told him.
New York keeps turning up on lists like this one, and Hradek gave his reason.
“Because the Rangers are gonna have a lot of cap space, and it is New York, after all.”
His bigger point had nothing to do with market size. Whichever team can convince McDavid it is the closest to a Stanley Cup gets the first look, and everything else is noise.
None of this is a report that he wants out. McDavid signed a two-year, $25 million extension last October at a $12.5 million cap hit, a number he set himself, and the deal does not run out until the summer of 2028.
He is also still the best player in the sport. McDavid put up 48 goals and a league-leading 138 points in 82 games last season, then played through a fractured foot in the first round. EA handed him a 99 overall in NHL 27 the same week Hradek’s comments started circulating, the first 99 the series has ever handed out.
Edmonton is what created the opening for this conversation. The Oilers went 41-30-11, finished second in the Pacific and lost in six to Anaheim in the first round, one year removed from back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final. Kris Knoblauch was fired on May 14.
Mike Babcock got the job on June 23 and walked straight into all of it:
All three of Hradek’s teams come with an obvious hole. Detroit has missed the playoffs 10 straight years and does not even have a general manager at the moment. Philadelphia is still assembling a young core around Matvei Michkov, and the Flyers have been linked to McDavid before. New York would need serious cap gymnastics to fit him now and again on whatever he signs next.
Trading for McDavid would also cost any of them the young players and picks required to build a winner around him, which is the part that tends to get skipped.
Hradek’s three names only start to matter if Edmonton gives McDavid a reason to listen. Babcock’s first season is where that gets settled.
