Fingers crossed, Saturday night’s visit to Scotiabank Arena will be the second to last time – at least in the regular season – that Connor McDavid will be a member of the opposing team.

In 228 short days, the Edmonton Oilers’ captain will be eligible to sign a contract extension. Additionally, in 593 days, the best player in the world could become an unrestricted free agent, which could pave the way for him to be a member of his childhood team.

Admittedly, this is a dream scenario that only I’m dumb enough to write about, but hell, stranger things have happened. If Gretzky could be traded and Kyle Dubas could double dip on acquiring Denis Malgin, anything’s possible.

Jokes aside, within the letter of the law and tampering, I’m doing everything possible to signal to the McDavid camp that we’re ready to give you anything you want. If that means McDavid showing up in Toronto and his hotel room being filled with his favourite treats and a life-time supply of dog food for his dog Lenny, then so be it.

Any way you slice it, John Tavares crawled so McDavid could walk. Unbelievably, it’s been nearly seven years since the Oakville Ontario native, who also grew up a massive Leafs fan, fled Long Island for greener pastures. And now, McDavid has a chance to do the very same thing.

Honestly, all things being equal, even though I obviously want the Leafs to hoist Lord Stanley this season, I actually think it would help Toronto’s chances of landing the phenom if Edmonton won. He would have nothing else to prove. Instead, he could pack his stuff, go home and play the rest of his career in the blue and white.

As mentioned, all this is a pipe dream. In my opinion, Leon Draisaitl doesn’t sign a long-term deal unless he gets confirmation from McDavid that he’s not going anywhere. Furthermore, one source went as far to tell me that he expects McDavid to sign an extension on July 1^st.

All I can say is that nothing’s official until it’s official. A lot can happen over the course of the next few months, and until McDavid signs on the dotted line in Edmonton, I’m choosing to live in this alternate reality, one where the prodigal son comes home to lead his hometown team to the promised land.