Oilers GM: Contract talks with McDavid will begin 'whenever they're ready'

The Edmonton Oilers are ready to begin contract extension negotiations with Connor McDavid but are just waiting for the superstar forward to come to the table.

"We're very eager to do that whenever they're ready," general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday, according to Derek Van Diest of NHL.com.

"I think Connor has earned the right to choose when he wants to get into the details of it, and we're ready right now; he knows that. He's right that July 1 is a date where we can officially sign him to a contract, but besides that, it's just another date, and it doesn't really change the process at all."

McDavid said at his end-of-season press conference earlier in June that he would take some time to speak with his agent and family before discussing an extension with Edmonton.

"We haven't talked to him at all about his contract," Bowman added. "It's really just been talking to him about our team and how we can improve and what he sees and that kind of stuff. So, the conversations haven't even started as far as a contract."

McDavid is entering the final season of an eight-year, $100-million contract he signed in 2017 and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. The 28-year-old has spent his entire 10-year NHL career with the Oilers after being drafted first overall by the club in 2015.

Edmonton is coming off another loss in the finals to the Florida Panthers, marking the second straight season McDavid fell just short of securing his first Stanley Cup.

Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen, Derek Ryan, and John Klingberg are among the Oilers set to become UFAs on Tuesday. Evan Bouchard, the 25-year-old defenseman who led Edmonton in ice time last season, is set to become a restricted free agent.

McDavid has won three Hart Trophies since entering the league. He has 361 goals and 721 assists in 712 career regular-season contests.