C Leon Draisaitl (2014, 3rd, EDM) II

[arsmaster*]

Players get kept with their NHL club and not sent to the World Juniors all the time. Oilers do it, and they're hurting the spirit of the game, oh and they are responsible for Germany getting relegated.

This thread.

Only to be returned to junior a few weeks later?

I'd be interested to see the list of players in that situation. I bet it's short if any are even on it.

 

[arsmaster*]

Would it be considered tampering? Perhaps it was the Raiders who reached out and inquired about the possibilities of Drai being sent down if a different option presented itself?

One thing is pretty obvious imo, the Rockets didnt trade for his rights without knowing he would be coming there.

Also there is a lot of wrong assumptions about the player in this thread in regards to his game.

Can you tamper in junior? Or just do you due diligence.

Obviously Kelowna knows they're getting him. The old boys network at HC and it's branch in Edmonton certainly discussed this at length.

I think it's a shame and if the oilers decided they wanted nuge to stick in the AHL during the lockout instead of play in the wjc would have been pissed about it too.

It's just Germany so nobody cares.

 

[Never]

There truly is no other organization in the National Hockey League like the Oilers. It is like gathering up and sending all the smokers on the Earth to a planet made up entirely out of nitroglycerin. Makes no sense.

Now it looks like Germany has a decent chance of being relegated due to the stupidity of what to do with Draisaitl.

What? Draisaitl being on Germany wouldn't have made any difference.

 

[arsmaster*]

Was a whole lot better post then the usual rhetoric on these boards.

Send em down and let them develop!

Like these guys are film or something?

Not everyone develops in Junior... not everyone Develops at all.

this Idea that you magically become a better hockey player at 25 because you Developed in Junior is way way over exagerated here.

Leon Should go down because it's in the best interest of the Oilers concerning his contract.

He's not all of a sudden become a 30 goal scorer in the NHL when he's 22 becuase he played some junior hockey.. give me a break. It's just the lame cop out used on these boards to explain how a player didn't pan out.

This post is strange. You're arguing against sending a player down but also excusing Edmonton for doing it? Because of salary implications. That's like keeping niño niederreiter in the NHL playing 5 mins a night because his ELC was more than his actual salary. Poor management is poor management.

They're sending him down. The difference between doing it now and before the wjc is what?

 

[Roof Daddy]

Wait, what?

"When we first contacted them the situation in Edmonton was a little different," said German coach Pat Cortina, adding their talks with Edmonton were cordial. "I understood their way of thinking then. I guess it's too bad it wasn't like this when we first asked." (source)

So Germany wanted him. Tried to get him multiple times. Why isn't he there again?

Again, this tells us nothing from Draisaitl's side. Is it that hard to believe the kid would rather collect an NHL pay check than play for a team that may get relegated even if he were to play? I'm not condoning how the Oil handled him, he should gave been sent down after 9 games, but how this falls solely on MacT's shoulders is beyond me. If Draisaitl says publicly that he wanted to play for his country and the Oil wouldn't let him, then we can all get our pitchforks out and hunt down MacT. But that hasn't happened. Wonder why?

 

[nuckfan insk]

So nothing official yet ?

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Again, this tells us nothing from Draisaitl's side. Is it that hard to believe the kid would rather collect an NHL pay check than play for a team that may get relegated even if he were to play? I'm not condoning how the Oil handled him, he should gave been sent down after 9 games, but how this falls solely on MacT's shoulders is beyond me. If Draisaitl says publicly that he wanted to play for his country and the Oil wouldn't let him, then we can all get our pitchforks out and hunt down MacT. But that hasn't happened. Wonder why?

Yes, it is that hard for me to believe that a kid would ignore his friends and country asking him to join them multiple times - particularly the best player and leader of said team.

But if Draisaitl having a say was even part of the equation, he wouldn't be on the way down now, either. The only difference between Draisaitl's situation now and his situation two weeks ago, is that MacT has taken the NHL AND the World Juniors away from him now, and the Oilers have burned an ELC year in the process.

So he's not developing in the NHL anymore, he's missing out on what everyone else around seems to consider a good building block/development opportunity, and his contract/salary will require dealing with earlier than it needed to. That's 3 negatives to take away from the situation without anything positive for either side to take from it. And MacT is the only one who can (and did) make any of it happen.

 

[Dempsey]

Maybe the team wanted him to work with Nelson a little longer before sending him down to Kelowna. I'm sure that is better experience than playing for a losing team in a tournament for the third straight year. Especially when he's going to finish the year playing against that same age group anyhow.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Maybe the team wanted him to work with Nelson a little longer before sending him down to Kelowna. I'm sure that is better experience than playing for a losing team in a tournament for the third straight year. Especially when he's going to finish the year playing against that same age group anyhow.

And I'm sure that it's pretty arrogant to think that "realistic" team expectations dissuade players from wanting to join their age group in representing their country internationally. Look at what a single win seemed to mean to Denmark, and I bet you every last one of them would prefer to be there over watching others there in their stead. And as big as the WJC is to us Canadians, I think snubbing your country internationally to focus on the NHL sends deeper ripples through European waters.

In short, Draisaitl saying "no" to Germany is the least plausible of all possible situations, and I give next to 0 chance that we'll find out that's how it went. Having a week or two to work with Nelson is not nearly a good enough reason to frig with the player AND the team's short term contract/salary situation so much.

 

[Cawz]

In short, Draisaitl saying "no" to Germany is the least plausible of all possible situations

I dunno, that's what Elliot Friedman seems to think. And he usually has a good take on things.

 

[Dempsey]

And I'm sure that it's pretty arrogant to think that "realistic" team expectations dissuade players from wanting to join their age group in representing their country internationally. Look at what a single win seemed to mean to Denmark, and I bet you every last one of them would prefer to be there over watching others there in their stead. And as big as the WJC is to us Canadians, I think snubbing your country internationally to focus on the NHL sends deeper ripples through European waters.

In short, Draisaitl saying "no" to Germany is the least plausible of all possible situations, and I give next to 0 chance that we'll find out that's how it went. Having a week or two to work with Nelson is not nearly a good enough reason to frig with the player AND the team's short term contract/salary situation so much.

Oh boy. I said literally nothing about it being the player's decision.

 

[wej20]

Spade you have no clue what you are talking about when it comes to Drai and his development. Your posts reveal that you don't watch the Oilers enough because your comments about Drai are at best ignorant.

Drai needs to work on a few things. The biggest things he needs to work on is his speed and acceleration. He also needs to gain further strength and build more stamina. He gets very tired after 20-30 seconds on his shifts. Finally he needs to work on his defensive game (but most young players need to).

If you watched him instead of basing it on a small sample (which is obvious based on your comments) you would see that the Oilers kept him up to work on his areas for improvement. His speed and strength is best built by being in the nhl and working with professional speed coaches and strength and conditioning coaches. The best coaches are at the nhl level.

Going down to junior isn't going to help Drai that much. The kid is quite confident and he has displayed good vision and passing ability. These skills will be further enhanced and his effectiveness greater once he works on the areas I listed above. Going down to junior might not help him as much, as he is likely to dominate as he's bigger and stronger than a lot of the players he will go up against. So he could pick up bad habits. There was a play a few weeks back where Drai skated the puck to the offensive blueline and instead of dumping it in he tried to skate laterally and deke/stick handle the puck in. The dman outmuscled Drai and caused a turnover. That play is one that works in junior but not in the nhl as dmen are stronger and better skaters. Will Drai resort to this when he goes back down? Tough to say.

The one area he can improve going down is his play away from the puck and better defensive awareness. The Oilers sheltered him like crazy but hopefully he gets much more exposure when he goes down.

Now getting back to his development. The areas he needs to improve will come in time. And he needs coaching. I can't fault the Oilers for wanting there own coaches to work with him as thy can spend more time working with him.

The reasons for sending him down is because you are hurting the team...not Drai. By being up he here be is working with professional coaches building the strength and stamina and speed coaches who are working with him on his skating and leg strength.

The only benefit I can see for Drai is he will get more ice time and he can work on his defensive game.

Saying the Oilers are ruining his development is stupid as most of you have no clue what Drai even needs to work on. And if you did then you wouldn't make such foolish posts

Speed, stamina and strength are all much easier to improve during the offseason when you're not playing games and practising for actual games. He'd be much better off being in junior even if he dominates than getting his butt kicked in the NHL.

 

[McPuritania]

Only to be returned to junior a few weeks later?

I'd be interested to see the list of players in that situation. I bet it's short if any are even on it.

Big ****in' deal.

The Oilers front office is moronic, but people crying that they are hurting the spirit of the game or are the reason Germany will get relegated can go jump in a lake.

 

[snizzbone*]

What? Draisaitl being on Germany wouldn't have made any difference.

Germany without Draisaitl is 100% going to result in Switzerland winning their best of 3 series. Germany with Draisaitl and there is actually a chance.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Yes, it is that hard for me to believe that a kid would ignore his friends and country asking him to join them multiple times - particularly the best player and leader of said team.

But if Draisaitl having a say was even part of the equation, he wouldn't be on the way down now, either. The only difference between Draisaitl's situation now and his situation two weeks ago, is that MacT has taken the NHL AND the World Juniors away from him now, and the Oilers have burned an ELC year in the process.

So he's not developing in the NHL anymore, he's missing out on what everyone else around seems to consider a good building block/development opportunity, and his contract/salary will require dealing with earlier than it needed to. That's 3 negatives to take away from the situation without anything positive for either side to take from it. And MacT is the only one who can (and did) make any of it happen.

I don't understand why it's that hard for you to believe he would prefer to stay in the NHL. With that logic, why didn't MacKinnon, Drouin and Ekblad go play for Canada at the WJC? Could it be because they would rather be in the NHL? How does that not make sense to you?

As for your second point, you do understand that sending him down before the 39 game mark means he doesn't burn up an RFA year. That's why he's going down now. My theory regarding it is this: he already went on record before the season saying that if he didn't make the Oilers he would not return to junior and would go play in Europe. What wasn't specified was what league. If his intention was to play in a German league, then it's easy to understand why the Oilers weren't keen on him going over there (German league doesn't exactly have a track record of developing players). My belief is the Oilers had the 39 game mark decided before the season started. While it would burn up an ELC year, it wouldn't cost them a year of contractual control. After 38 games they would reevaluate. If he was holding his own, he'd stay for the rest of the year. If not, they'd work out a deal for him to play in the WHL. Having already made about 400k while in the NHL, he's already made the same amount he likely would have made in Europe. IMO, this was the trade off for him to stay in North America.

Just my theory, but I think it has substance. I also think that this might be a positive development path too. He leaves the NHL knowing what areas he must work on and enters a league where his experience this year should allow him to dominate. He's also playing for a team that could still end up playing 50+ games if they make it to the Memorial Cup. If you want to see it in a negative light that's fine, but I couldn't disagree more. I think this ends up as a positive developmental year. His ELC expiring a year earlier is pretty insignificant.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Germany without Draisaitl is 100% going to result in Switzerland winning their best of 3 series. Germany with Draisaitl and there is actually a chance.

Germany would not beat the Swiss with Draisaitl no chance at all Denmark maybe but
The Swiss no chance at all. NONE

 

[Vipers31]

What? Draisaitl being on Germany wouldn't have made any difference.

Absurd statement. For what team does it not make a difference to have their far and away best player? I would like to mention an NHL team, but I can't even come up with one where the difference in talent is as big to the next best player on the team.

I'm being realistic, and quite detached emotionally from German hockey national teams - Germany had a very, very good chance at being relegated, anyway, with or without Draisaitl. That said, they were surprisingly close already. The game against Slovakia was very winnable. Draisaitl would absolutely have made a difference there. Whether it would have been enough to win, anyone's guess, but he would have made a difference. Against Finnland, as well. And against Switzerland, for sure. Maybe not enough to avoid relegation, but a lot would have been different. Hard to see why anyone would even claim otherwise.

It would have been the best for him to not play more than a handful NHL games this year, anway, but what does one expect.

 

[Fire Everyone]

As for your second point, you do understand that sending him down before the 39 game mark means he doesn't burn up an RFA year.

He said ELC year. The Oilers will have burned the first year of his contract for no reason.

It's not like playing in the NHL will have helped his development much, if at all. He was overly sheltered and still wasn't a positive contributor to his team.

Absurd statement. For what team does it not make a difference to have their far and away best player?

That's true.

Also, while hockey is a team sport and one player won't make a bad team great, you never know what can happen in the course of a single game.

 

[Roof Daddy]

He said ELC year. The Oilers will have burned the first year of his contract for no reason.

I realize he said ELC year, which I referenced in my post. In discussing the 39 game mark and how it affects his RFA status was in response to this:

But if Draisaitl having a say was even part of the equation, he wouldn't be on the way down now, either.

He was making it sound as though Draisaitl being sent down now just materialized arbitrarily. What I'm saying is the 39 game mark was always the target date, that burning a year of his ELC has little or no consequence compared to burning an RFA year. By sending him down now, we still maintain 7 years of contractual control. Again, my theory being this was the only way to keep him in North America all year and convince him to return to the WHL if he was in over his head by the half way point. I would have preferred to send him down after 9 games and save the ELC year as well, but we don't know where he was going to play if that's the case, all we know is it wasn't going to be the WHL.

 

[JayKing]

Assigned to the WHL. Trade hasn't been finalized yet.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Assigned to the WHL. Trade hasn't been finalized yet.

Long overdue. Hopefully he can get his confidence back and do well on whatever WHL team he's on.

 

[Terry Yake]

can someone please explain to me why prince albert would trade him to kelowna?

it seems like the raiders would really need him based on how they've played as of late

 

[Joe Hallenback]

Because they have no chance even if they keep him

 

[Emerz]

can someone please explain to me why prince albert would trade him to kelowna?

it seems like the raiders would really need him based on how they've played as of late

Pretty sure he said himself he wasn't going back to Prince Albert if I remember correctly.

 

[PanniniClaus]

I don't understand why it's that hard for you to believe he would prefer to stay in the NHL. With that logic, why didn't MacKinnon, Drouin and Ekblad go play for Canada at the WJC? Could it be because they would rather be in the NHL? How does that not make sense to you?QUOTE]

I don't understand how you don't understand it should not matter what Draisaitl wants - it should matter what is best for the player and the organization.

What would have been best would be him playing 9 games in the NHL, going back to junior (somewhere) and playing a big role in the WJC.

Who would not want to earn an NHL paycheck? I would but that is not my call and there is no way it was Draisaitl's call to make either.