It was another difficult loss in the Stanley Cup Final for Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid, arguably hockey’s best player, at the hands of the Florida Panthers. Despite having 15 goals and 60 assists for 75 points in the last two playoff seasons is still without hockey’s holy grail.

During Thursday’s end-of-year press conference for the Oilers, McDavid, who has one year left on the eight-year, $100-million contract he signed in July 2017, raised some eyebrows with comments made when asked about what his future holds.

“We’re all in this together, trying to get it over that finish line. But with that being said, I still need to do what’s best for me and my family,” he said.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss McDavid’s comments and which team he would have the best chance of winning with going forward.

Tyler Yaremchuk: A lot of people circling the “with that being said,” part from McDavid’s quote. What did you make of his comments on his future?

Frank Seravalli: I mean, they were candid, and raw, because this is a guy who is reeling from being this close again to capturing his ultimate dream and getting his name etched on Lord Stanley’s mug. And that hurts. So 48 hours after the fact, of course you’re going to be sour and dejected.

With that said, the truth is, if McDavid is looking fora. chance to win a Stanley Cup, short of going to Florida one year from now, there really isn’t a team better positioned anywhere else to be able to chase that. There is no other team where you can play with Leon Draisaitl, who probably should have won the Hart Trophy this year.

When it comes to other players who filled out this team, it’s been a frustrating process, and that’s what I think you see seep out here. This isn’t directed at Stan Bowman or Jeff Jackson, as much as it’s directed at Peter Chiarelli and Ken Holland, who haven’t gotten this mix quite right. You see the moves Bowman has made since he took over, and he still has to go through the process and undo some of those, still.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…

Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl reveals how long Connor McDavid has left in Edmonton

Oilers' Leon Draisaitl reveals how long Connor McDavid has left in Edmonton image

Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The clock is ticking.

And while that seems clear enough from the outside, it’s also true within the building for the Edmonton Oilers when it comes to Connor McDavid.

Leon Draisaitl held his exit interview with local media on Saturday after the Oilers’ season ended Thursday night in Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs.

Naturally, the German star was asked about the Oilers’ captain McDavid.

First, he said this: “We need to be better. We have to be better.”

And then he put a timeline on it: “We have two years. We have to get significantly better.”

It’s not that Draisaitl said anything drastically new here, but it’s the outward acknowledgement that makes a notable point.

McDavid signed a contract extension before the 2025-26 season that added two years to what was an expiring deal. Now, he is set to be a free agent after the 2027-28 season.

So the implication is that McDavid doesn’t necessarily plan on sticking around after that. It was an easy enough thing to assume when he signed for that length and not longer, but Draisaitl has now said the quiet part out loud.

McDavid still doesn’t have a Stanley Cup, and he’ll turn 30 before next year’s postseason. In some ways, he’s running out of time on his prime.

The Oilers lost in the Stanley Cup Finals each of the past two seasons, but this year, it was a first-round exit.