Connor McDavid's Wife Tears Up as Oilers Forward Bids Farewell
As Connor Brown closed the chapter on his time with the Edmonton Oilers, a message from Connor McDavid's wife, Lauren Kyle, captured the attention of Oilers fans and sparked a new wave of speculation.
Brown, who signed a four-year, $12 million deal with the New Jersey Devils, posted a farewell on Instagram this week.
'Thank you to the fans for two incredible years and unwavering support. Edmonton will always hold a very special place in our hearts,' Brown wrote. 'Ready for a new chapter and excited to be a @njdevils 👀😈'
Kyle responded quickly to Brown's farewell message, posting her own reply on the player's post on Instagram, and she couldn't hold her emotions.
'😭💙🧡' Kyle posted first, before adding, 'Oil for life.'
The latter comment instantly drew massive interest and 745 likes. Outside of Instagram, some fans interpreted Kyle's comment as a potential signal of McDavid's long-term intentions.
Some viewed Kyle's phrase as an emotional tribute to Brown's tenure, while others saw it as something more pointed — possibly a subtle message that McDavid, who is entering his final season under contract, is about to re-sign a long-term deal with Edmonton.
While it's fair to assume that Lauren Kyle was saying something akin to "once an Oiler, always an Oiler,' as other franchises' fan bases have used before, some fans jumped to early conclusions regarding McDavid's future.
Brown, meanwhile, played a key role during Edmonton's back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final, tallying 13 goals and 30 points in the regular season and adding nine more in the playoffs, appearing in 20 games.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
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How a ‘metamorphosis' turned Ryker Lee into one of the NHL's most gifted prospects
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'The things he does and tries in games, and pulls them off successful, I've never seen anything like it. He is one of a kind. And that guy's got a good goal-scoring touch too. He's a special player. And he has grown and still kept that hand-eye and that skill in his toolbox. I mean, it's pretty special. The sky's the limit for that type of player like him.' Now Lee is trying to show that he's more than just his hands. The two most common things scouts have talked about when they've talked about Lee over the last couple of years are, first, his hands and second, that his skating needed to improve. When he arrived at Shattuck, Ward said he was a little heavy-footed and 'kind of a thumper.' 'You could feel him coming behind you,' Ward said. Advertisement Part of that was the constant growing and the reality that things hadn't fallen into place for him yet. In Madison, Brandt set him up with their skating coach, Amy Claggett. Claggett would skate with the team once a week, and Lee another time. They worked on lengthening his stride to match his longer legs, his efficiency with his arm movement and also moving his feet more and the puck quicker — and trusting that he'd get it back. Lee said he enjoyed picking her brain about things that he could take into practice. Once the growth spurts slowed and three inches a year turned to one inch a year, his skating really started to come, and the results showed. In the agility testing for the prospects at the Chipotle All-American Game, he ranked near the top. 'It was something that he worked on, that he was mindful of, and it's something that he's continuing to grow into,' Brandt said of Lee's skating. 'He has continued to adapt to his growth while continuing to work on his skating. Just in a year, his foot speed improved noticeably.' Last season, he also worked hard with Madison's strength and conditioning coach Jason Johnson. Together, they didn't just maintain his weight in season (usually the goal), but actually managed to add five pounds. The coaching staff at MSU noticed it right away (that he was thicker in the shoulders and filling out) when he arrived on campus following Predators development camp earlier this summer. The results showed in the testing at the NHL Scouting Combine, too. He finished first in vertical jump (with a standing vertical jump of 25.67 inches), 13th in the no arm vertical jump, 10th in left-hand grip (151 pounds) and tied for 14th in pullups with 12. 'I get his skating needs to come, but look out,' DeMichiel said. 'I don't think he's done growing either. Unreal kid, too. Great energy to him. He adores the game.' Advertisement He has also always been 'a competitive little guy,' according to Ward, which has helped him mitigate against his size and skating at different points in his career. Ward said that Shattuck actually got lucky that he was as small as he was because the players who have his skill and also more physical stature at an early age have 'everybody in the world wanting them.' 'It was a blessing that he started out as a little guy. And now that he's moving on out into the big, real hockey world, he has been blessed again, and he has had a growth spurt. Because he's not afraid of the gym,' Wars said. 'He's a strong kid, a farmer strong kid. He's wiry strong. He can hold his own, and he can hang. He's a good athlete. He's got good explosiveness. And he's losing his heavy feet. Now that he's getting stronger in his legs and his core, he can lift them up, and set them down, and get back, and cut and stop and start.' Because of that development, Ward said Nightingale and his staff are now the lucky ones. '(Nightingale) has got a good player. And he's a wonderful kid. He gets it. Like the tortoise does win the race and he has just had to stick with it,' Ward said. 'He's just a rink rat, throwback kind of kid. If he could be up at the rink all day long, whether it's on the ice or just in the dressing room, or training, or laughing, or just shooting the breeze with his buddies, he would be. He's just a rat, and in the greatest, most affectionate, most competitive way. (He's) a really good teammate, and he plays his ass off, and he has finally grown. And I'm so happy for him because he is a completely different person.' The Predators will be the next lucky ones. 'I was telling all of the guys from the (NHL) when they were calling and asking questions about him, if you don't take him when you have the chance to take him, you're going to be kicking yourself in four or five years because this kid's going to be ripping it up,' Ward said. Advertisement In that way, Ward thinks Lee's metamorphosis actually helped his development 'because it's almost a curse if you're a young kid and you're already the fastest skater or the biggest kid and you don't develop things in your game that are nuanced-based that are in your brain and your soul.' 'He came into his love of the game as a little guy and learned how to manipulate his way through the trees,' Ward said. 'And now he's a good, big average-sized kid, and he can handle his own, and I'm sure he's loving being on the other side of a few checks here.' Ask Brandt and Ward what they'll remember most about coaching Lee, and they both start with how much fun it was and how hardworking he was. 'Right from when Ryker stepped onto the ice, we knew his approach every day,' Ward said. 'We do skills every day, and when he gets on the ice and it's his turn, he takes every rep serious. He can also challenge players in one-on-one situations or small-area games, but he makes it fun. He's got a contagious attitude that he brings to the rink, and it's one of work ethic, but also one that he truly enjoys doing what he does.' But they always come back to his hands. For Brandt, it's the way he does it all with his head up. And he said Lee's edges while handling don't get talked about enough, either. 'He can cut on a dime and use his body and torque his body in different ways,' Brandt said. 'He can still skate, he can still make a play, all while having the puck on a string. And as a defender, that's hard because if you make a wrong read, it's a dangerous thing when he's got his head up. And then he also loves to shoot it, so as a goaltender, you're never sure if he's going to pass or shoot it, and his deceptiveness adds to his stick skills.' For Ward, it's the absurdity of the way he always finds his way in and out of the tightest cracks in coverage. Even on a team with guys such as Zellers, the reigning USHL Player of the Year, and Aidan Park, a draft pick of the Oilers known for his hands, it was Lee who was 'The Wizard.' Advertisement 'You could put three of us, four of us, in a phone booth and we'd never touch the puck,' Ward said. 'He's got that ability. And he can wire it, too. Like he can shoot it and he's not afraid to score. He's not one of these guys that is just enamored with stickhandling. He's just as enamored with scoring.' Ask Lee where his hands come from, and he says it's twofold. They were honed with hard work in his basement, but they were also a necessity of his reality as a smaller player. 'I had to learn how to be smarter and put myself in good positions,' Lee said. With his new size, he's learning to use his body more as well. Between development camp with the Preds and the World Junior Summer Showcase, he has also been in East Lansing working out with Michigan State's strength and conditioning coach Will Morlock, who he said was one of the main reasons he and others are now choosing the Spartans. 'I've been working with him ever since I got on campus, and the workouts have been hard, but that's exactly what I need, and he kind of caters everything to what you need specifically,' Lee said. After a strong start at the World Junior Summer Showcase, he's excited to continue to show USA Hockey the progress he has made this fall — and that he's more than just his hands — with his sights set on making the team in December. 'Obviously, I have an offensive game and I can bring offense to this team, but I also want to prove that I can outwork opponents and play in all situations for them,' he said. (Photo of Ryker Lee: Madison Capitols / Rosenau Photography)
