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“This may have been one of the largest contracts ever given in the NHL, but I can assure you, it easily could have been a lot higher in value and shorter in term,” said Chiarelli. “Building a team to win the Stanley Cup was a constant in the discussion.”

Chiarelli also talked about the partnership that grows from and must be part of a process this rich and public. Both sides had to benefit, and be seen to do so. McDavid got paid an insane amount of money, the Oilers locked him up for the maximum-allowable eight years, which eats into potential unrestricted free agency and stabilizes the franchise for almost an entire decade.

Win, win.

Photo by David Bloom / Postmedia

Now the hard part. There is incredible pressure to perform, to lead and to win built into a deal like this one. For any player, never mind a 20-year-old.

“For sure, there is,” said McDavid. “But for me, it just makes me want to be better and work harder. You want to earn that money. You don’t want to be someone who signs a deal and kind of shuts it down. That’s not going to be me at all. It’s only driving me more.”

That’s his promise. That’s why the Oilers made him captain. That’s why they are comfortable at this number. Unlike other older players who reside in this new financial stratosphere, McDavid is being paid more for that promise than past performance. He’s played just 127 regular season games, 13 in the playoffs. There isn’t a Stanley Cup or Conn Smythe Trophy to accompany the Hart Memorial, Art Ross and Ted Lindsay. But you get the impression those, too, are coming.