Confirmed Signing with Link: [EDM] F Leon Draisaitl signs extension with the Oilers (8 years, $14M AAV; begins 2025-26)

[Straight Fire]

 

[ManByng]

I wonder what Bouchard comes in at. If he has a massive year and wins the Norris or comes top 3 even, I’d think he’d want to be the highest paid defenseman in the league.

Bouchard had a massive year last year, more than doubling his point totals from the previous year. He's just not at a Norris winning level....yet !

 

[ITM]

It's a boatload...But you can't argue against what he brings in the playoffs.

 

[La Bamba]

Bouchard next, then McDavid, then Matthews to replace Hyman in 4 years.

 

[Garbageyuk]

They very much are...

Drai is a tier above. We get it; Kaprizov is your fellow Russian. You want him to be on the same level as Drai. He isn’t, and likely never will be.

 

[Sparksrus3]

Yeah and i remember buying a hpuse in downtown vancouver was $100,000 and now its $10 mil. What was your point?

What’s yours is the real question . Blah blah blah

 

[ChaoticOrange]

I imagine Draisaitl will age pretty well. Guys with size, puck protection and passing ability all tend to age well and he has a great shot on top of it. Obviously this isn’t the great signing it would be if he was 25, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still a top 10 center at 35/36.

Think Joe Thornton aging curve. Draisaitl will be elite well into his late 30’s.

 

[albator71]

McDavid will be 16. Bouchard will also get an 8 figure contract.

And despite all the screaming from the armchair GMs on the internet the Oilers cap situation will absorb that fine enough.

Yes with the cap increasing in the next 2-3 year Oilers should be fine

 

[thaman8765678]

Last year for Oilers to have a chance at winning.

After this year their top players will be making so much money, it will be impossible to compete! Haha!

 

[soothsayer]

Last year for Oilers to have a chance at winning.

After this year their top players will be making so much money, it will be impossible to compete! Haha!

Got 'em!

 

[McFlyingV]

Think Joe Thornton aging curve. Draisaitl will be elite well into his late 30’s.

Kopitar is still scoring at his career average at the age of 37 and people think Draisaitl at 31 is going to be a 50 point player.

 

[McFlyingV]

Yes with the cap increasing in the next 2-3 year Oilers should be fine

Finally someone who can think logically.

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

Last year for Oilers to have a chance at winning.

After this year their top players will be making so much money, it will be impossible to compete! Haha!

Always finding the most negative take. That's quite the skill! Good on ya! Keep up the useless work!

 

[TGWL]

still lower for mack even tho hes the better player. he left money on the table.

Well, yeah, 12.6 is cheaper than 14. But it's not a comparable. The cap is going up again and Mackinnon signed that contract before ever hitting 100 points. We can say that mackinnon is worth more, but there's no doubt in my mind that had the contract been signed today, that number would have been closer to the 14m range than 12.6.

 

[McFlyingV]

I don't think that's accurate. Usually it's the physical bruising powerforwards (Lucic, Wilson, etc.) who see a decline quickly as they enter their early 30's. Draisaitl doesn't necessarily initiate a bunch of contact, he just uses his size/strength in a puck protection capacity.

I'd say he'd age more similar to a Joe Thornton -- another guy who used his size/strength to dominate possession, but didn't really add wear and tear on his body by going around throwing thunderous hits every night. Thornton was around a point per game guy as late as I believe age 36 or 37.

Kopitar and Thornton are probably most likely comparables to how Draisaitl should age.

 

[PuckG]

Last year for Oilers to have a chance at winning.

After this year their top players will be making so much money, it will be impossible to compete! Haha!

These were your hockey takes three days ago:

I think at this point Drai is likely walking next summer.

He will want to get paid and want to go to a contender. Edmonton can't afford him, and I believe he gave them a deadline of Aug 31 to sign him.

The clock is ticking...

Draisaitl wants to go to a contender. Connor walks the year after as well.

You’re one of the few posters I know who is actively getting worse at this whole hockey forum posting thing.

 

[kihei]

I wonder if the Oiler brass had said 13.9 mill per year and not a penny more, would Draisaitl have said hell, no.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Fair deal and I’m sure Oilers fans are happy

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I'm disappointed quite honestly. I hoped Draisaitl would go somewhere to show he can be a legit #1 on a team rather than spend his entire career somewhere where he's seen as just a sidekick. Messier had to go to New York to cement his legacy...

 

[TGWL]

I wonder if the Oiler brass had said 13.9 mill per year and not a penny more, would Draisaitl have said hell, no.

I'm wondering why an organization would play that hard ball game in the first place over a petty differential amount. Like, the organization is willing to piss off the player and hope he then settles for the 14m? Seems like a mistake for such a small difference in average.

 

[PuckG]

I'm disappointed quite honestly. I hoped Draisaitl would go somewhere to show he can be a legit #1 on a team rather than spend his entire career somewhere where he's seen as just a sidekick. Messier had to go to New York to cement his legacy...

His legacy is already cemented in Edmonton. And any rational and observant hockey fan is able to see his skill/talent as opposed to immediately detract from it just because he plays for the Oilers or on the same team as McDavid.

The same posters who detract from him don’t consistently apply the same principles to any other superstar or team in the league, but it’s usually because they’re intentionally being disingenuous.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

NHL Max contracts should be set at 15% of the Cap, this isn’t the NBA, need a solid 23 Man roster to win the Cup.

 

[TGWL]

I'm disappointed quite honestly. I hoped Draisaitl would go somewhere to show he can be a legit #1 on a team rather than spend his entire career somewhere where he's seen as just a sidekick. Messier had to go to New York to cement his legacy...

But let's not pretend that Messier wanted to be traded so he could cement his legacy. He demanded to be traded because he was upset the organization didn't view some players in the same regard he did when it came to players too valuable to move. Gretzky? gone. Graves? Gone. Kurri? Gone. Anderson? Gone.

Players want to win the cup, but I think you're going to see a lot less players uprooting their families and comfortability, just to play for a team and say I was the #1 guy that took them the distance. Personally, I'd rather do it with my friends and not care about where I'm ranked among peers when I retire.

 

[Mike4Leafs4ever]

I'm disappointed quite honestly. I hoped Draisaitl would go somewhere to show he can be a legit #1 on a team rather than spend his entire career somewhere where he's seen as just a sidekick. Messier had to go to New York to cement his legacy...

Don't worry, Drai will get his chance to be number 1 when McDavid leaves for Toronto in 2 years.

 

[Soundwave]

Did the Penguins also have Schultz making like 7 million (Nurse) or is this an imperfect comparison?

Actually the Penguins winning in 2017 with Letang not even available to play kinda blows a giant crater into the whole "you can't have X players earning Y cap!", because that means they effectively won with their best players earning about 59% of the cap due to Letang being a 7.5 mill cap hit that didn't even play a game in the playoffs.

The Leafs problem isn't their salary structure. It's that Matthews and Marner and Tavares don't show up to play big in the playoffs. The Oilers big three of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard have some of the highest PPG in the playoffs in the modern era (last 30 years lets say). McDavid is no.1, Draisaitl no.2, MacKinnon no.3, and even Bouchard is just a hair below Makar and near Sidney Crosby himself, way above any of the Leafs big three forwards.