Connor McDavid signed a two-year contract extension to remain with the Edmonton Oilers through the 2027-28 season. While it gave the Canadian franchise some short-term security (and financial flexibility), it left the NHL's longtime gold standard with options for his future.
If McDavid does hit the free-agent market in 2028 he'd essentially be able to pick any team — front offices would make rash decisions to create the necessary salary-cap space — but one fellow NHL player believes the 2015 first overall pick will make a stunning decision.
His prediction: the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner will join the Buffalo Sabres.
"He has a hero complex," the unnamed player told The Athletic as part of its anonymous poll about key NHL storylines.
It would certainly take a heroic effort for McDavid to pull the Sabres out of a 14-year playoff drought (it'll probably be 17 by the time he could hit the open market) and back into Stanley Cup contention for the first time since the early 2000s.
Buffalo Sabres and Connor McDavid have a long history dating back to the 2015 NHL Draft
Former Sabres general manager Tim Murray badly wanted to land McDavid in the 2015 draft. Any player who threatened that pursuit with a stretch of strong play during the 2014-15 campaign was traded, waived or demoted to the AHL's Rochester Americans.
Murray successfully guided Buffalo to a triumph in the race to the bottom of the NHL standings, fittingly dubbed the McEichel sweepstakes, but the ping pong balls didn't bounce in the franchise's favor. The Oilers won the right to select McDavid and the Sabres picked Jack Eichel.
Make no mistake, Eichel is an elite player and a true organizational cornerstone, but he's not the best player in the world, a distinction that belongs to McDavid (with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche also in the discussion.)
Things didn't work out between Eichel and the Sabres. The team failed to rebuild its roster, which was torn down to the studs as part of the hardcore tanking effort, and an eventual dispute about the best treatment for the standout center's neck injury led to his trade to the Vegas Golden Knights.
At the same time, the Oilers were emerging as a perennial Stanley Cup contender with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the way, leaving Buffalo sports fans to wonder what could have been.
McDavid joining the Sabres, even if it was 13 years after those in Western New York prayed for his arrival, would be an incredible twist.
What Buffalo's roster will look like at that moment is a true mystery because the current core, led by defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and forward Tage Thompson, is running out of chances to prove itself.
If the Blue and Gold miss the playoffs for a 15th straight year, and it's trending that way, it's possible the Sabres begin another scorched-earth rebuild. That includes a complete overhaul of the front office led by general manager Kevyn Adams and the coaching staff guided by head coach Lindy Ruff.
The next regime — Buffalo has been linked to former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan — would then decide which players should stick with the franchise through it's next transition. On the surface, Dahlin feels like the only must-keep player.
It'd take a couple years to sort through the mess and start drafting the type of players the new front office wants to build around. That could set the stage for the Sabres to begin truly turning their fortunes around right when McDavid could enter free agency in 2028.
Realistic? Probably not, but Buffalo fans can always dream, just like they did when they made the trek to watch No. 97 play for the Erie Otters from 2012 through 2015.
If it does happen, the NHL player who made the prediction should reveal themselves and immediately adopt the nickname Nostradamus.