The National Hockey League is still reverberating with yesterday’s news of a contract extension for Connor McDavid, transcendent captain of the Edmonton Oilers. McDavid’s current contract, which pays him US$12.5 million (C$17.4 million) a year, was set to run out at the end of the season that commences tonight. This led to a drama-filled summer: would McDavid, now aged 28, choose to test the open market and obtain a deal that might yield $20 million or more? He gave out a few quotes suggesting that anything was possible, ratcheting up the suspense, and then did the unthinkable — signing for another two years in Edmonton for the same $12.5 million.

The league’s highest-paid player, signed earlier in the offseason by Minnesota, is Russian winger Kirill Kaprizov, whose contract has an averag

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