Confirmed with Link: Draisaitl re-signs 8y 8.5M AAV

[Aerrol]

Can't say I'm especially pleased with the number (I was hoping for 7.25-8.25 as my range)... but it's manageable. Happy to have Drai around for a long time, hopefully he can live up to the number.

 

[GMofOilers]

Speedy once again the man, wow!

Great deal!

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

8.5 is pricey. Especially for someone who a lot aren't sure if he can produce and drive a line on his own.

That said, I feel confident Draisaitl can be that guy. Playoffs kinda showed that, albeit it's a very small sample size.

I think Johansen is a comparable here. I think the price is steep, but at worse, Draisaitl is a guy who can produce with McDavid.

 

[rboomercat90]

From a fan of the team perspective, I'd have preferred a smaller number. I love the player though so I'm happy that it's done and that it's for eight years. McDavid and Draisatl are our team moving forward and I'm much more comfortable with that then I was with the previous core players. I saw much more fight, determination, skill and ability to improve with him than in the previous set of players that were given long term deals. I'm not as concerned with the risk as I was with some of that group.

 

[sepHF]

Bye RNH

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Probably $1m higher than he SHOULD get, but at least it's done and we don't have to worry about him potentially not being ready for training camp.

Now Leon, time to put up 70+ again this season to help justify that number.

I suspect Leon will do that as the norm going forward.

 

[CupofOil]

Nice to have Leon locked up for 8 years but Chia isn't so good with negotiating long term deals, that's for sure. Florida and Winnipeg are REALLY lucky to get Schiefele and Barkov locked up at those numbers, REALLY lucky. This gives the Bruins even more reason to hate Chia with an even tougher Pastrnak negotiation on the horizon.

Glad to have McDavid and Drai locked up, but the cap crunch train is approaching fast and it's going to hit hard. 21M locked up into two players. Didn't really expect that going into the offseason.

 

[SK13]

Are you serious? it's Market value. Johansen at 8M was the market value. He's right at it and he is arguably a better player than Johansen.

He's also arguably worse than Ryan Johansen.

Ryan Johansen signed for more UFA years as his teams best forward with a longer track record - and no Connor McDavid grossly inflating his stats.

In truth, I was against extending him long term at 7.5 per. I'm damn sure against signing him 7 weeks before he needed a contract to a massively inflated deal. IMO, only Toews and Voracek contracts had worse upside since term limits were capped at 8 years.

 

[Consultant]

Huge gamble.
Huge price tag.
I think they should have waited and got it lower.
Someone post that pic of "Chia negotiating" (Saudi guy throwing money and dumping it on peoples heads).
Just my opinion but Chia gets a D- on this one.

 

[KarmaPolice]

It could've been worse: MTL could've offered a 50m, 5 year contract (10m AAV), or something of that sort. He's the type of player they desperately need. I'm kind of surprised they didn't go for it; they have the cap space. But I'm glad to have him signed, even if it's a bit of an overpay. We have our two best young forwards signed for at least 8 more seasons. Should be a hell of a ride.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Huge gamble.
Huge price tag.
I think they should have waited and got it lower.
Someone post that pic of "Chia negotiating" (Saudi guy throwing money and dumping it on peoples heads).
Just my opinion but Chia gets a D- on this one.

Far too soon to give stupid grades, but here we are.

 

[Consultant]

He's also arguably worse than Ryan Johansen.

Ryan Johansen signed for more UFA years as his teams best forward with a longer track record - and no Connor McDavid grossly inflating his stats.

In truth, I was against extending him long term at 7.5 per. I'm damn sure against signing him 7 weeks before he needed a contract to a massively inflated deal. IMO, only Toews and Voracek contracts were worse since term limits were capped at 8 years.

I agree completely, why rush, over payments like this will cost this club. Now he has to produce on his own or he will be run out of town.

 

[Da McBomb]

Leon's a stud. Last year was just his break out year. He will live up to this contract and more.. no doubt about it in my mind.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

About 500k more than I wanted but glad he's here for 8 years!

 

[doulos]

He's also arguably worse than Ryan Johansen.

Ryan Johansen signed for more UFA years as his teams best forward with a longer track record - and no Connor McDavid grossly inflating his stats.

In truth, I was against extending him long term at 7.5 per. I'm damn sure against signing him 7 weeks before he needed a contract to a massively inflated deal. IMO, only Toews and Voracek contracts were worse since term limits were capped at 8 years.

Have to agree with most of this. Chiarelli has looked like a pretty brutal negotiator this summer. You can't keep giving out 'slightly bad' or worse deals and expect to manage your cap well enough to remain a contender.

Now, all that being said, he's done well so far with this team, so I am hoping it continues. I am quite nervous about what has happened this summer though. Has not given me a lot of confidence that Chiarelli knows how to manage cap space very well.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

He's also arguably worse than Ryan Johansen.

Ryan Johansen signed for more UFA years as his teams best forward with a longer track record - and no Connor McDavid grossly inflating his stats.

In truth, I was against extending him long term at 7.5 per. I'm damn sure against signing him 7 weeks before he needed a contract to a massively inflated deal. IMO, only Toews and Voracek contracts had worse upside since term limits were capped at 8 years.

Again, pre mature with the hyperbole that the contract is one of the worst out there.

I get being skeptical, I am to an extent, but calm down with the overreaction here.

 

[Consultant]

Far too soon to give stupid grades, but here we are.

It's a comment forum.

 

[SK13]

Well, it's certainly a risk. But this seems to be the 'new NHL'; you have to pay your young stars like this now, it seems. Like I said, I think he'll end up being worth it. So it's just a matter if you think he'll live up to his contract or not; nothing else really matters. I have faith in him.

There's another way, and Tampa Bay did it with Nikita Kucherov.

 

[McTrashBoat]

Have to agree with most of this. Chiarelli has looked like a pretty brutal negotiator this summer. You can't keep giving out 'slightly bad' or worse deals and expect to manage your cap well enough to remain a contender.

Now, all that being said, he's done well so far with this team, so I am hoping it continues. I am quite nervous about what has happened this summer though. Has not given me a lot of confidence that Chiarelli knows how to manage cap space very well.

Better to sit guys or let them walk

 

[SK13]

Again, pre mature with the hyperbole that the contract is one of the worst out there.

There's nothing premature about evaluating the risk of a deal on a largely unproven player.

The upside here is that he's legit and you're paying him about what he would have made if we had known that for sure. The downside is he's far less productive off McDavid's wing and you have one of the worst value contracts in the entire NHL.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Draisaitl had more leverage than people are willing to concede. If he misses camp and the Oilers collapsed this season, fans would be irate. Chiarelli knows he has to give this group their best chance to establish a winning culture as Oilers to completely detach themselves from the Lost Decade.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

I think this deal is about $0.5M - $1.0M per year higher than Draisaitl has proven he's worth. I believe he can meet the expectations that come with an $8.5M price tag but I'm curious what others expectations are now.

For me he needs to be an 80+ point player who's capable of running his own line, not necessarily all the time, but when necessary to create secondary scoring. He also needs to be a strong defensive and possession player who shows up consistently come playoff time. He's already shown the ability to do this so he just needs to be a bit more consistent and not take any steps backward.

 

[doulos]

Better to sit guys or let them walk

You've made an assumption that those are the only two options. If you're right, then I guess you have no option but to keep tossing out bad deals over and over. However, other teams seem to be able to avoid giving out bad deals on a regular basis, so your assumption seems to be incorrect in my opinion.

 

[s7ark]

Awful risk/reward deal. Up there with Jake Voracek.

What pisses me off is why sign this now? Why not take all the time you have to get this number down. It's NOT market value; it's inflated.

Presumably there are other moves Chia wants to make and needs this contract done beforehand.

This is a fine contract for Drai. Pushing him to hold out just sours the relationship with the team. And when if it forces Drai to sign a bridge deal and 2 years from now we're looking at 10+ for the player he's become?

Good on Chia getting this done and out of the way. On to other moves now.

 

[La Bamba]

Too much money but I'm glad he's here for 8 more years