Blockbuster Trade Ideas for Connor McDavid if Oilers Fall Out of Contention During 2026-27 Season

Players like Connor McDavid do not get traded.

Players like him come along once every couple of decades (or less, depending on where you already put him among the NHL's all-time greats), and if you are lucky enough to get a player like that on your team, you typically do everything in your power to keep them for their entire career.

Given that reality, it is almost certain that McDavid will not be traded away by the Edmonton Oilers anytime soon. Probably not ever.

The key words there are "almost certain" and "probably."

Nothing is ever fully guaranteed. Nothing is ever 100 percent. And Oilers fans have to know that as well as anyone, given that the NHL's actual GOAT, Wayne Gretzky, did, in fact, get traded away from this organization at one point in his career.

Whether they are willing to admit it or not, there also has to be at least some concern from Oilers fans, and perhaps even the Oilers themselves, that McDavid could become frustrated if the team underachieves and again falls short of Stanley Cup contender status.

When it came time to sign his most recent contract extension, he opted for a short-term, two-year deal that resulted in a massive pay cut relative to the salary cap percentage. Some could take that as a message to Oilers management that it's time to get serious about building around him. That's probably how it should have been taken. It might also explain some of the desperation moves the team has made ever since.

There is also a growing trend, especially this offseason, of some of the league's star players forcing their way out of situations they are unhappy with or do not feel they can win.

While it was not an official request, Vancouver traded Quinn Hughes because they knew he would not be re-signing there. Minnesota might have to soon wrestle with a similar decision regarding him. Brady Tkachuk forced his way out of Ottawa. Dylan Larkin is trying to force his way out of Detroit. Connor Hellebuyck is so committed to getting out of Winnipeg that he didn't even show up to training camp and is taking a suspension from the team. The common denominator with that quartet of players is that they were all teammates on Team USA at the 2026 Olympics, and McDavid, as a Canadian player, is not within that inner circle. Maybe that's a part of it for them.

But he is still going to be 30 years old this season, in his 12th year in the NHL, and is still searching for a Stanley Cup ring. Until he gets it, he is going to keep hearing the "yeah, but..." that always follows him around when he is discussed among the game's current and all-time best.

He needs to win at some point, and he knows it. And if he loses faith that it will ever happen for him in Edmonton, you have to at least entertain the "what ifs."

So let's do that.

Let's play the "what if" game and just hypothetically envision a scenario where the Oilers fall out of contention this season, and it results in McDavid eventually becoming the latest star player to ask out of their current situation.

The Problem with Suggesting a Connor McDavid Trade

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There are actually a few problems, ranging from Edmonton's willingness to ever actually do something like this to McDavid actually trying to force a move.

Finding a trade partner that would not only entice McDavid (and he would have full control over this given his trade protections in his contracts), but also have the trade assets that would entice Edmonton to even entertain the idea, would be among the biggest of those problems.

Winning a Cup would be McDavid's only motivation, which would automatically limit potential partners.

But how many contenders would have the pieces to actually pull that off?

And what would it even look like?

It's almost impossible to find comparable value or returns because, again, players of this caliber almost never get traded. You can't even go back to the era of the Gretzky or Eric Lindros trades because the NHL is a completely different world right now. Teams are smarter, player and draft pick values are different, there is a salary cap to contend with, and you might as well be comparing apples to bell peppers.

First, let's just ask this question: Who are the best players over the past 10-15 to have actually been traded, and what were the returns on them?

Mikko Rantanen was traded as a pending UFA for Martin Necas, Jack Drury and some draft picks.

Quinn Hughes, with a year-and-a-half remaining on his deal, was traded for a package that included Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick.

Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Huberdeau (who, at the time, was an elite scorer) were traded for each other, with MacKenzie Weegar joining Huberdeau as part of the package going to Calgary.

Brady Tkachuk was traded for three first-round picks.

Jack Eichel was traded for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and multiple draft picks.

Erik Karlsson went from Ottawa to San Jose for a pile of draft picks (including an eventual No. 3 overall pick that was used to select Tim Stutzle), Joshua Norris and some depth roster players.

P.K. Subban and Shea Weber were traded for each other.

Taylor Hall was traded straight up for Adam Larsson.

You are either looking at one established, big-time star going the other way, or one really good young player, one top prospect, and a bunch of draft-pick capital.

Even that is difficult because for as great as those players all are, McDavid is still probably a tier above them just based on status, star-power and offensive production.

Is there a contending team that could get into that ballpark, or exceed it?

There are not many of them that hit the sweet spot of being good enough to make a play for it and also having the right trade pieces to offer.

Florida and Vegas are in on every star play, and most star players want to go to both places, but their trade options and assets are very limited.

There are a lot of teams that would have a bounty of young trade assets (San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim) but still have a long way to go before they become true contenders.

Toronto and New York are big markets, but where do those teams see themselves in the coming years? And again it comes down to interesting trade assets. Do either of them have it?

Would they move him to a Western Conference team like Dallas or Minnesota?

These are all big questions and hurdles.

It's these factors, more than anything, that might make this an unrealistic scenario, and even if McDavid did eventually get frustrated and want out, it might just be a situation that ends up going to free agency, or a last-minute trade deadline move next year if things really go south on (and off) the ice.

There's also the very likely scenario where Edmonton is still good and still a contender, rendering a discussion like this completely meaningless.

But there are three teams that might hit the sweet spot needed here, should it ever come to something like this.

Carolina Hurricanes

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The idea: Seth Jarvis, K'Andre Miller and a first-round pick to Edmonton

We have talked for years about how the one big weakness for this era of Carolina hockey has been the lack of a true, game-changing superstar. That's not meant to be a knock on the roster or their top players. They are a lot of outstanding players here, and have been for quite some time. But it's always been a team built on depth, system, and a roster where the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. There was a thought that until they found a true top-tier superstar, it would be tough for them to break through and win it all (and they took a big swing on that superstar by trying to add Rantanen).

In 2025-26, they finally put that talk to bed and broke through to win the Cup without the true "superstar."

So maybe they don't need it.

Maybe the rest of the team is good enough as is (and it obviously is).

But Carolina would still be an intriguing option because A) it's a championship-caliber team, and B) it has the type of assets and draft pick capital throughout the organization that could probably get a deal of this magnitude completed.

It's the same basic structure as the Tkachuk-Huberdeau trade, where a top-line forward and a top-pairing defenseman are the focal point going forward. It's also arguably a better package (as it would need to be) because Jarvis is younger and cheaper than Huberdeau was for Calgary, and is likely to keep improving for another couple of years, rather than immediately going into the tank the way Huberdeau did.

It also works in the short term because Jarvis is the type of player who would be the centerpiece of such a deal and has no trade restrictions on his contract at the moment.

Buffalo Sabres

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The idea: Tage Thompson, Mattias Samuelsson and a first-round pick to Edmonton

I don't know if Buffalo will be a serious Stanley Cup contender in the coming seasons, but you don't have to squint to see its potential. They finally got through to the playoffs in 2025-26 after 14 years away, and even won a round. It's a good young team, with a lot of talent.

I think I just like the idea of suggesting Buffalo because everybody in Buffalo thought they were going to get him back in 2014, but they ended up with Jack Eichel instead, and that whole thing just collapsed on itself and never worked out for anybody.

Buffalo also has some potential pieces that could make something work.

Plus, McDavid has some familiarity with the area, having played his junior hockey about 90 minutes away in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Again, it's a star player who isn't quite on the superstar level (Thompson) and a very good defensive player in Samuelsson. Samuelsson has been a big part of the Sabres blue line, but they would still have Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, while some of the team's best prospects, including 2026 No. 4 overall pick Daxon Rudolph, play defense. So there is something of a pipeline there that could make a player like Samuelsson expendable in a situation like this.

Buffalo has good reason to like the core it is building, and Thompson has been a big part of turning things around, but is he the type of player who is the best player on a serious Stanley Cup contender? And would McDavid see Buffalo as a Stanley Cup contender worth going to?

Tampa Bay Lightning

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The idea: Brayden Point, Erik Cernak and a first-round pick to Edmonton

The Lightning are still on that contender level, but they strike me as a contender that has grown stale.

It's still a very good team. But it's a very good team that has not won a playoff series in four years.

It is also a team that is not afraid to make bold changes and take big swings.

Nikita Kucherov is sitting out there as an unrestricted free agent after this season with no contract in place. They have said goodbye to franchise icons in the past, and I would not put it past them to do it again. Especially if it coincided with another blockbuster move that could slightly change the team's dynamic.

Point's no-movement clause, and whether he would waive it for Edmonton, would be a major potential obstacle to this idea, but the value seems solid. He's a similar age to McDavid, still has years left on his deal, and is still an All-Star-level forward.