The conversation between the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/combinations">Edmonton Oilers</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/08/22/oilersnation-radio-will-connor-mcdavids-extension-cost-edmonton-oilers-less-than-expected/">Connor McDavid</a> about his impending contract extension won&#8217;t be a long one.

Because in the eyes of Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, &#8220;it won&#8217;t be like any other negotiation.&#8221;
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Jackson joined Jeff Marek, host of Daily Faceoff&#8217;s The Sheet, for an exclusive interview last week in Muskoka, Ont., for an interview for Marek&#8217;s new series, On The Road.
The pair&#8217;s wide-ranging conversation touched on multiple topics, but none more pertinent to Oilers fans than that of McDavid&#8217;s contract status — and specifically, how quiet things have felt around it.
<blockquote>Marek: If we had been sitting here a year ago and Connor McDavid hadn&#8217;t signed an extension, I would have said the hockey world would be going crazy right now. It would be on fire. But the opposite has happened. Everyone&#8217;s really calm about Connor McDavid and the extension. How did that happen?
Jackson: I&#8217;m not sure, other than the fact that there&#8217;s a certain level of comfort with Connor. He&#8217;s been in Edmondson for 10 years. He&#8217;s been very vocal about how much he loves the city. He loves playing for this team. The team is a good team, which is paramount to Connor, having an opportunity to win. I think the conversation would be a lot different if we were struggling and we hadn&#8217;t been and gone as far. I mean, as disappointing as it has been to not win, we&#8217;ve been right there for two years in a row. I think although we&#8217;ve made changes this summer, I think we have a really good team again, so Connor feels good about all that.
It could be the relationship with Connor and the city. My relationship with Connor goes way back. Connor has a lot of confidence in (Oilers GM) Stan (Bowman) and has been public about that. Ownership and Darryl (Katz) and his family have treated Connor and Lauren very well. I think it&#8217;s a combination of all those things. I know last year when Leon (Draisaitl) had another year left and we were going to extend him or wanted to, it seemed like there was a lot more pressure, media talk about it.
Marek: It seems like Leon was noisier than Connor&#8217;s been, which I never would have guessed.
Jackson: A little bit, but I tried to tamp that down last June when When we were in the finals. I know there was like, &#8216;if you don&#8217;t get him signed right away, you&#8217;re going to have to trade him.&#8217; I was like, I&#8217;m not sure what you&#8217;re talking about. He has another year. He loves playing in Edmonton. Sure enough, we got a deal done early September with Leon and super happy about that. I sort of feel it&#8217;s the same with Connor. It&#8217;s not going to be a long negotiation.
Marek: How quick is that phone call, by the way? How quick is that conversation?
Jackson: I think that it won&#8217;t be&#8230; It&#8217;ll be unlike any other negotiation because it&#8217;s not really. I think that when Connor is ready, we&#8217;ll have the discussion and we&#8217;ll get a deal done.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
“I think that when Connor is ready&#8230; we’ll have the discussion and we’ll get a deal done”
Jeff Jackson joined the new series &#39;On the Road&#39; with <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffMarek?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JeffMarek</a> to discuss the Connor McDavid contract situation and more<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheSheet?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheSheet</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyFaceoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dailyfaceoff</a> <a href="https://t.co/ki6BzJPqBi">pic.twitter.com/ki6BzJPqBi</a>
&mdash; Oilersnation.com, Oily Since ‘07 (@OilersNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/OilersNation/status/1960031477313511586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There&#8217;s few in the hockey world who know McDavid better than Jackson, who was his long-time agent before transitioning to his front office job with the Oilers.
It was reported over the weekend that McDavid and the Oilers would likely begin deeper work on the extension <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/08/25/edmonton-oilers-connor-mcdavid-work-extension-after-team-canada-olympic-camp/">after he attends</a> the Team Canada Olympic orientation camp taking place in Calgary this week, meaning it may not be long until his extension is official.
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Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on X at <a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
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The conversation between the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/combinations">Edmonton Oilers</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/08/22/oilersnation-radio-will-connor-mcdavids-extension-cost-edmonton-oilers-less-than-expected/">Connor McDavid</a> about his impending contract extension won't be a long one.



Because in the eyes of Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, "it won't be like any other negotiation."
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Jackson joined Jeff Marek, host of Daily Faceoff's The Sheet, for an exclusive interview last week in Muskoka, Ont., for an interview for Marek's new series, On The Road.

The pair's wide-ranging conversation touched on multiple topics, but none more pertinent to Oilers fans than that of McDavid's contract status — and specifically, how quiet things have felt around it.
<blockquote>Marek: If we had been sitting here a year ago and Connor McDavid hadn't signed an extension, I would have said the hockey world would be going crazy right now. It would be on fire. But the opposite has happened. Everyone's really calm about Connor McDavid and the extension. How did that happen?

Jackson: I'm not sure, other than the fact that there's a certain level of comfort with Connor. He's been in Edmondson for 10 years. He's been very vocal about how much he loves the city. He loves playing for this team. The team is a good team, which is paramount to Connor, having an opportunity to win. I think the conversation would be a lot different if we were struggling and we hadn't been and gone as far. I mean, as disappointing as it has been to not win, we've been right there for two years in a row. I think although we've made changes this summer, I think we have a really good team again, so Connor feels good about all that.

It could be the relationship with Connor and the city. My relationship with Connor goes way back. Connor has a lot of confidence in (Oilers GM) Stan (Bowman) and has been public about that. Ownership and Darryl (Katz) and his family have treated Connor and Lauren very well. I think it's a combination of all those things. I know last year when Leon (Draisaitl) had another year left and we were going to extend him or wanted to, it seemed like there was a lot more pressure, media talk about it.

Marek: It seems like Leon was noisier than Connor's been, which I never would have guessed.

Jackson: A little bit, but I tried to tamp that down last June when When we were in the finals. I know there was like, 'if you don't get him signed right away, you're going to have to trade him.' I was like, I'm not sure what you're talking about. He has another year. He loves playing in Edmonton. Sure enough, we got a deal done early September with Leon and super happy about that. I sort of feel it's the same with Connor. It's not going to be a long negotiation.

Marek: How quick is that phone call, by the way? How quick is that conversation?

Jackson: I think that it won't be... It'll be unlike any other negotiation because it's not really. I think that when Connor is ready, we'll have the discussion and we'll get a deal done.</blockquote>
https://twitter.com/OilersNation/status/1960031477313511586

There's few in the hockey world who know McDavid better than Jackson, who was his long-time agent before transitioning to his front office job with the Oilers.

It was reported over the weekend that McDavid and the Oilers would likely begin deeper work on the extension <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/08/25/edmonton-oilers-connor-mcdavid-work-extension-after-team-canada-olympic-camp/">after he attends</a> the Team Canada Olympic orientation camp taking place in Calgary this week, meaning it may not be long until his extension is official.

<hr />

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on X at <a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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‘It’s not going to be a long negotiation’: Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson confident in team’s ability to extend Connor McDavid

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