The Connor McDavid trade destinations have officially reached the point where almost any NHL team can apparently be considered a potential suitor.
The latest chatter, based on comments from NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek, has linked McDavid to the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings if he were ever to leave Edmonton. To be clear, this is hypothetical speculation rather than a report that McDavid is asking out.
Speaking with the Bleed Oil Blue Podcast, Hradek says winning would be the deciding factor.
And that’s where things get a little ridiculous.
All three teams can make some degree of sense on paper. But once one actually starts looking at what it would take to make a McDavid trade work, the logic starts to fall apart pretty quickly.
The Flyers Could Afford McDavid, But What Would Be Left?
Philadelphia is probably the most interesting of these three McDavid trade destinations because the Flyers could eventually have the cap flexibility to pay McDavid.
The problem isn’t necessarily fitting his contract.
It’s getting him there without gutting the roster.
If Philadelphia had to give Edmonton the kind of package required to acquire the best player in hockey, the Flyers would have to surrender some combination of their best young players, prospects and draft capital.
And that’s before considering McDavid’s next contract.
The Flyers are trying to build something. They’ve accumulated young talent and appear to be moving toward becoming a legitimate contender. Trading away the pieces that could make that happen just to acquire McDavid would be a strange way to build a team around him.
Because here’s the evident question: Why would McDavid want to go to Philadelphia if the trade leaves Philadelphia without enough high-end talent to surround him?
That’s the catch with the first of the three McDavid trade destinations.
McDavid doesn’t simply need a team that can afford him. He needs a team that can afford him and remains good enough to make his move worthwhile.
The Rangers Don’t Have the Pieces or the Cap Space
The New York Rangers are an even tougher sell.
Sure, it’s New York.
Sure, there’s the market, the history and Madison Square Garden.
But the Rangers would have to perform some serious financial gymnastics to make McDavid’s cap hit fit.
And it wouldn’t stop there.
The Rangers would have to accommodate his current contract while also figuring out how to fit a potentially massive extension down the road. That’s not exactly an easy task for a team that already has significant money committed to its core.
Then comes the trade package.
What exactly are the Rangers giving Edmonton that makes the Oilers willing to surrender McDavid?
If New York has to include its best young players and significant draft capital, the Rangers could wind up in the same situation as Philadelphia: acquiring McDavid while simultaneously making it much harder to build a team around him.
That’s not a particularly compelling sales pitch for a team believed to be among the top McDavid trade destinations.
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Detroit Doesn’t Make Much Sense as of McDavid Trade Destinations
Then there’s Detroit.
This is where the speculation really starts to feel strange.
The Red Wings have talented players and plenty of reasons to believe they can eventually become a better team. But there’s still considerable uncertainty surrounding the organization.
Would McDavid really want to leave Edmonton for another situation where the direction of the franchise isn’t completely clear?
That’s the part that gets lost when people start creating hypothetical trades among the top McDavid trade destinations.
This isn’t simply about whether Detroit can put together a package Edmonton would accept. It’s about whether Detroit would be a destination McDavid would actually want.
And if the Red Wings have to surrender several of their best pieces to acquire him, that uncertainty only becomes more pronounced.
Maybe McDavid would look at Detroit differently.
Maybe he wouldn’t.
But that’s precisely the point.
There are plenty of teams that can technically construct a trade for Connor McDavid. There are far fewer that could do it without destroying the very thing that would make McDavid want to go there in the first place.
That’s why these trade destinations are starting to get a little ridiculous.
McDavid Trade Destinations Are Getting Ridiculous