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

[The Batman]

He turned it up a notch when it mattered the most. I do think there was a little overpayment due to such a small sample size. But if that is what we can expect during the playoffs then you gotta pay the German. Ecstatic to see our two best players in Oilers silks for 8 more years!

 

[Weitz]

I just wish we signed a star to a contract and people for once would say "wow what a great deal".

I hope he progresses and earns the contract. We shall see.

 

[Da McBomb]

I'm gonna bet on Drai being able to carry his own line and do a mighty fine job with it... if not next season.. then, very soon after. He is just too good and has the total package. His vision, hockey iq, passing skills, size and great puck protecting ability, and his now surpising speed.. I don't have a doubt in my mind he'll become like a 1a Centre on this team.. the 'Malkin' or 'Messier' of the team. Not comparing him to them.. but Drai's value and importance to this team will be similar.

However I'm also gonna bet on him spending quite alot of time playing with McDavid throughout every season.. in situations like with 1 or 2 minutes left in the period, 4 and 4, PP, or times when the team needs a spark.. just like you see on most teams when they play their 2 best players together. Drai's versatility and chemistry with McDavid is a huge asset to have. As good as Connor is.. he's even that much better when playing with Draisaitl and vise versa. If we can get decent scoring help throughout the lineup.. then stacking the 1st line can be quite tempting. I'm just looking forward to cheering on Drai and McDavid for the next 8+ years. Its gonna be fun.

 

[poolparty98]

Mcdavid for 9 yrs....Draisatl for 8..... amazing!!!!!!! Stanley come home!!

 

[Tyrolean]

Not concerned about the signing as finally it happened and we secure him for 8 years. More concerned if Chia can field a winning team with 21 million tied up in 2 star players.

 

[KingKhron]

All Drai had to do to warrant 10 mil after a bridge would be to simply maintain the level of play he showed last year.

If he improved on that, we wouldve been totally screwed and he'd be asking 10+ easily.

Is that the case? It's hard to see how another couple seasons of 70+ points makes him a 10+ player. Has the landscape really changed that much in the last few years because that list is a short, short, short one and it's not filled with 70 point players. Oh crap, superhuman Toews always throws off the metric.

 

[KingKhron]

This seems a weird debate. I think everyone loves him and is super happy he is on our team but the consensus is one side saying too much by 0.5-1 million and the other says that he'll be good for it. It just seems like a lot of argument when there really is none. Just some people not sweating the extra dollars while thinking it is still extra and the other sweating it. It really seems to be the least dividing thread in recent history. Let's get back to Nuge or Looch and get a proper donnybrook going again.

 

[SK13]

Is that the case? It's hard to see how another couple seasons of 70+ points makes him a 10+ player. Has the landscape really changed that much in the last few years because that list is a short, short, short one and it's not filled with 70 point players. Oh crap, superhuman Toews always throws off the metric.

No, it hasn't.

Price, Karlsson, Matthews, McDavid. These are the players who have or will fall in the 10 range in the next year or two. Even Tavares is likely to miss this range.

 

[KingKhron]

No, it hasn't.

Price, Karlsson, Matthews, McDavid. These are the players who have or will fall in the 10 range in the next year or two. Even Tavares is likely to miss this range.

It's kind of mind blowing, isn't it? I'm obviously naive but I didn't see these numbers coming. I thought Connor would come in less and never saw 8.5 for Drai. I don't think of myself as a generally negative thinker when it comes to the team but I don't see how the best opinion someone could come up with for this is "Super happy to have him for 8 but we overpaid for sure.".

 

[SaltNPeca]

I just wish we signed a star to a contract and people for once would say "wow what a great deal".

I hope he progresses and earns the contract. We shall see.

He's already a star and a leader with so much upside. You should see how he was depended on in the IIHF WC 2017 here in Germany (after playing in the World Cup, NHL Season, and NHL Playoffs). I don't have the stat, but his ice time was huge and while on the ice he was depended on for breakouts, entry, setting up on the half-boards-corner, and scoring (srs lol). Germany wasn't a great team, but with Drai and a goalie they took Canada to 2-1 in the quarter final. And yeah Canada had Giroux, Simmonds, Marner, Parayko, etc.

Germany has almost 90 million people with a decently attended pro league. The NHL drools over this market.
He's also got the Czech and general "Euro" connection.

While Connor is or will be the best, Leon is or will be the best German and potentially the best active European. This is an intangible a lot of current Oiler fans just don't see. Edmonton, The Oilers, and the NHL will get a lot more European and certainly German attention as Leon develops and (fingers crossed) wins championships.

 

[scliff]

Not a fan of 8.5m, it's about 1m too much. Love Drai, but the risk is with the team here: at best this ends up being a fair contract.

 

[VainGretzky]

I just wish we signed a star to a contract and people for once would say "wow what a great deal".

I hope he progresses and earns the contract. We shall see.

Leon says don't worry

 

[Dorian2]

Not concerned about the signing as finally it happened and we secure him for 8 years. More concerned if Chia can field a winning team with 21 million tied up in 2 star players.

One way to look at the $21 million in 2 players is the fact that between our previous 3 "star" players they were making $18 Million all told. We didn't even sniff the Playoffs, let alone make them. I'm not sure if we even finished a year in the last 10 at higher than 25 overall in the standings. We have Larsson, Kleffy, and Dadbot tied in to super deals (correct me if I'm mistaken), and these 2. 1 being a super star and generational player. The other pretty damned close (but not really haha).

It may be a slightly skewed perspective, but in the end we have 5 keystone players setup for a while now....especially McDavid and Drai. I didn't think I'd be happy with 8.5, but considering it's over 8 years, it seems very practical. It's still a long term bet and investment, and we're hedging on making it, not breaking it IMO.

 

[joestevens29]

This seems a weird debate. I think everyone loves him and is super happy he is on our team but the consensus is one side saying too much by 0.5-1 million and the other says that he'll be good for it. It just seems like a lot of argument when there really is none. Just some people not sweating the extra dollars while thinking it is still extra and the other sweating it. It really seems to be the least dividing thread in recent history. Let's get back to Nuge or Looch and get a proper donnybrook going again.

He could've signed for 7.5mil and the same debate would be had.

 

[CupofOil]

It's fine to stack the top line if you're a deep team. The Oilers are not deep. You're basically hoping that the opposition can't shut down the only scoring line at that point. Who else is going to pick up the slack?

They had 103 points last season and went to Game 7 of the 2nd round largely with a stacked top line and little depth.
The 2nd and 3rd lines played as poor as can be most of the last season and the team was more than fine. I expect better from the middle lines this season with some added depth (Jokinen), incremental growth and I can't imagine RNH having a worse year.

 

[CupofOil]

No, it hasn't.

Price, Karlsson, Matthews, McDavid. These are the players who have or will fall in the 10 range in the next year or two. Even Tavares is likely to miss this range.

I'll bet any amount of money that Tavares gets around 10M and likely more.
Schiefele and Barkov would have been in the 8 range quite comfortably had they been signed this offseason, you're underestimating market inflation. There's always a contract that sets a new standard.

 

[Aceboogie]

I just wish we signed a star to a contract and people for once would say "wow what a great deal".

I hope he progresses and earns the contract. We shall see.

The important thing is we are signing star(s)

 

[Neatman]

The important thing is we are signing star(s)

Sure, but I find it incredibly hard to believe he could've have been signed for 8 or less.

It's too much for what he has accomplished so far. I think it will turn out alright as he will be a fantastic player, but you'd think the oilers would have learned a lesson regarding paying for potential (RNH, Eberle). 1 excellent season and he''s being paid like it's guaranteed he will have another 8 that are better.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Sure, but I find it incredibly hard to believe he could've have been signed for 8 or less.

Why do you find this?

Edit: They aren't paying him for what he's done, it's for what he will do based on the player they believe that he is.

 

[Aceboogie]

Sure, but I find it incredibly hard to believe he could've have been signed for 8 or less.

It's too much for what he has accomplished so far. I think it will turn out alright as he will be a fantastic player, but you'd think the oilers would have learned a lesson regarding paying for potential (RNH, Eberle). 1 excellent season and he''s being paid like it's guaranteed he will have another 8 that are better.

This is the going rate for players of ilk so get used to it. 4 years ago fans were perplexed when young players were getting 6 mil.

Not to mention it was 2 excellent seasons and an elite playoffs. What was Chiarelli to do? Play hardball and jerk around your star player? dragging this out into camp. We saw the major issues this caused with Gaudreau and fact it caused a poor year for him and put the Flames behind the 8 ball from the start

I mean I thought Flames got a good deal with Gaudreau after playing hardball. But after hearing about the rumored fractures in that relationship, I dunno if his 500K-1M discount is worth it. Better to just keep your elite players happy

 

[NeverForget06]

One thing I find interesting about this deal is that pretty much every other player besides Malkin and Toews/Kane is making 8+ million to be THE guy. Drai doesn't even need to be THE guy most nights. He just needs to be able to run a second line effectively.

So you have to ask, what is Drai's job? What do bar do you set for him? I could see a future where he puts up around 65-75 points per season as an effective second line centre, with McDavid putting up 90-105 points pretty easily, and the team succeeding. Is that good enough?

Basically, if the team continues to put up 100+ point seasons even if Drai is only putting up 75ish points, is he worth it? I would say yes.

Most of the talk on related to this contract has been about Drai being able to replicate his 77 point regular season. I really don't think that matters as much as his playoff performance does. This is a team that should be expected to finish top3 in the division for the next 5+ years, and I think anything less would be a total failure. I think they get in regardless of whether Drai puts up 70 or 85 points.

We can probably get away with the offence going primarily through McDavid in the regular season, but that is not so in the playoffs, as we have seen.

So,where this deal will look great, or not so great, is in the playoffs. If Drai can do damage on the opposition's second pairing, as we saw this year, then he will be worth every cent of the deal.

 

[Aceboogie]

One thing I find interesting about this deal is that pretty much every other player besides Malkin and Toews/Kane is making 8+ million to be THE guy. Drai doesn't even need to be THE guy most nights. He just needs to be able to run a second line effectively.

So you have to ask, what is Drai's job? What do bar do you set for him? I could see a future where he puts up around 65-75 points per season as an effective second line centre, with McDavid putting up 90-105 points pretty easily, and the team succeeding. Is that good enough?

Basically, if the team continues to put up 100+ point seasons even if Drai is only putting up 75ish points, is he worth it? I would say yes.

Most of the talk on related to this contract has been about Drai being able to replicate his 77 point regular season. I really don't think that matters as much as his playoff performance does. This is a team that should be expected to finish top3 in the division for the next 5+ years, and I think anything less would be a total failure. I think they get in regardless of whether Drai puts up 70 or 85 points.

We can probably get away with the offence going primarily through McDavid in the regular season, but that is not so in the playoffs, as we have seen.

So,where this deal will look great, or not so great, is in the playoffs. If Drai can do damage on the opposition's second pairing, as we saw this year, then he will be worth every cent of the deal.

Agreed

Id ask him to either be a 75-80 point winger on McDavids line and form the best 1st line in the league (Seguin-Benn but better). Or if hes at 2C Id ask him to be a 65 point 2 way center able to handle the defensive workload and neutralize another teams top line

 

[nabob]

I'll bet any amount of money that Tavares gets around 10M and likely more.
Schiefele and Barkov would have been in the 8 range quite comfortably had they been signed this offseason, you're underestimating market inflation. There's always a contract that sets a new standard.

Drai's contract set a new standard. There was no precedent for a 2nd contract for a player of his caliber with such a high cap hit. The market wasn't inflated until Chia caved.

 

[Stoneman89]

I just wish we signed a star to a contract and people for once would say "wow what a great deal".

I hope he progresses and earns the contract. We shall see.

McDavid signed for 12.5 and 8 years when the speculation was swirling it couid be as high as the 15 mill max.


What a great deal!

 

[J4M13M]

Drai's contract set a new standard. There was no precedent for a 2nd contract for a player of his caliber with such a high cap hit. The market wasn't inflated until Chia caved.

This is very possibly true. But there's another side effect if this becomes a new standard for young stars.

This contract might hurt the Oilers, but it could easily and absolutely torpedo the Leafs.