McDavid thinks unsigned RFAs need 'one domino to fall'

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid believes the NHL's current crop of unsigned restricted free agents will reach their respective agreements in bunches.

"It's obviously a unique situation where there's a lot of star players that are sitting out right now," McDavid said Monday, according to NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. "I think it'll just take one domino to fall and they'll all fall pretty quick. But someone's going to have to set that mark."

The list of RFAs that remain without a deal includes Brayden Point, Mitch Marner, Brock Boeser, Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, and Matthew Tkachuk, among others. Training camps open in roughly two weeks.

McDavid himself never came close to a contract holdout, as he signed an eight-year, $100-million contract in July 2017 to make him the league's highest-paid player, one year before he would've become an RFA.

"I didn't want to be sitting here and not going to training camp," McDavid said. "That was my biggest fear, honestly."

McDavid posted a career-high 116 points in 78 games in 2018-19, the first year of his new contract.