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

[WATTAGE4451]

They should have deducted a few million based on his Finals appearance.

He had a broken rib and a broken finger. Was amazing he was playing at all.

 

[LTIR]

How can you be jealous of a team that hasn't won anything in almost 35 years?

Pretty sure this team won a trophy just a few months away... not the Stanley Cup but western champions so technically you are wrong.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

92 mill for next season, then a larger bump after to up to 97+ mill would be reasonable because the Canadian TV deal is up and as much as people want to say live TV doesn't get you paid anymore, the NHL (US TV deal) and NBA (new TV deal) have gotten enormous new contracts.

Then probably not much longer after that we're looking at north of 100 million (101 mill, 105 mill, etc.).

Pretty much all of Draisaitl's raise is already priced into the Oilers cap too. 1.9 mill from Neal buyout and 3.2 million from Brown's bonus comes off the cap next July, that takes Leon from 8.5 to 13.5, that's virtually his entire raise.

That's actually huge.

Then the price increase of the one year takes McDavids and then Bouchard has to be figured out.

Very interesting.

 

[Half Clapper]

Love watching rando's put out some random timeline as a window like there's a special formula for it.

The window is as long as McDavid is playing hockey. Everything else is just silly noise.

This isn't basketball buddy! One player can't do it all and never will be able too.

Pretty sure this team won a trophy just a few months away... not the Stanley Cup but western champions so technically you are wrong.

Western Conference Champs! You guys gonna raise the banner for that? I'm legit laughing out loud. Thanks for that this am

 

[Fishy McScales]

How can you be jealous of a team that hasn't won anything in almost 35 years?

Precisely the reason you just said.

People have spat at and ridiculed the Oilers for years when they've been the poor have-nots from a northern outpost in the middle of nowhere that Chris Pronger ditched, leaving them in a decade of darkness.

Then they get Connor McDavid and suddenly those losers you used to laugh at are cooler and better than your team.

"It's not fair! They were gifted McDavid! I hate them!"

Don't pretend these tantrums haven't been thrown in absurdum by hockey fans for years and that it isn't a textbook case of jealousy.

 

[GOilers88]

This isn't basketball buddy! One player can't do it all and never will be able too.


Western Conference Champs! You guys gonna raise the banner for that? I'm legit laughing out loud. Thanks for that this am

Of course it isn't basketball. The f*** does that have to do with anything?

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Will become that much more difficult for Edmonton to win a cup. Just dont see how they can do it with how top heavy they wi be a year or two from now.

IMO their window is open until McDavid and Drai’s extensions are fully hitting. After that, their team will take a hit.

At some point they will need to trade a 1st round pick to attempt to dump nurses contract. If they get rid of paying a guy who plays like a 3rd pairing defenseman as one of the top defensemen in the league, then laying their actual deserving stars a large chunk of cap is less of a problem.

Problem is trading a 1st isnt enough to get anyone to take on nurses contract yet as jt still goes through 2030. Such a bad contract. May take multiple picks but its what they need to do to keep cup window open. Might have to wait a few years though so someone has to absorb less years.

 

[Half Clapper]

Precisely the reason you just said.

People have spat at and ridiculed the Oilers for years when they've been the poor have-nots from a northern outpost in the middle of nowhere that Chris Pronger ditched, leaving them in a decade of darkness.

Then they get Connor McDavid and suddenly those losers you used to laugh at are cooler and better than your team.

"It's not fair! They were gifted McDavid! I hate them!"

Don't pretend these tantrums haven't been thrown in absurdum by hockey fans for years and that it isn't a textbook case of jealousy.

The Oilers have always just been an easy team to root against! But ya they didn't deserve McDavid due to their absolute poor drafting, roster building, and overall poor uninspiring play for years leading up to getting him. One of the worst drafting teams in the NHL, and it doesn't look like it is getting any better.

The Oilers are a top 3 cup favourite next year, but in 25-26 I think they take a step back, and are a bubble team. Def a few up-and-coming teams coming out of the west. I guess time will tell

Of course it isn't basketball. The f*** does that have to do with anything?

You act like having Mcdavid will mean the oilers can compete for cups. That isn't how it works. You can't have two star players without other pieces like in basketball and win it all.

Ex) Chicago had - Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, Hossa, and Sharp as their core guys when they won three cups. Edmonton just doesn't have that...

 

[dirtydanglez]

2 years ago you could try and make an argument for either way, but I don't think you can say "Mack was still the better player." I get it, they won the cup, but Draisaitl scored 55 goals that year and put up 2 points per game in the post season. I think if the contract was signed in Sept 2023 instead of 2022 you can make a better claim to that. But it's not comparable when it was signed 2 years prior with not a lot of increasing cap and for a player that hasn't consistently broken 100 points, or ever at that point. Of course it looks great now that Mackinnon is putting up 100+ points. Nearly 150.

it's been consensus for a while now that nate is #2 to mcdavid.

 

[JianYang]

IMO, this signing does not occur unless Leon has strong assurance that mcdavid is also planning to stay in Edmonton.

So, this is a big signing in more ways than one.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Toews and Kane all over again but if the Oilers get a cup then it will be worth it. But they have to ditch that Nurse contract if possible.

Very tough order. Paying a 1st wouldnt even get a team to take it when its til 2030. Hes essentially a 3rd pairing level defenseman. He looks bad even playing 2nd pairing minutes. Will take multiple picks and they probably need to wait a couple years

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The Oilers have always just been an easy team to root against! But ya they didn't deserve McDavid due to their absolute poor drafting, roster building, and overall poor uninspiring play for years leading up to getting him. One of the worst drafting teams in the NHL, and it doesn't look like it is getting any better.

The Oilers are a top 3 cup favourite next year, but in 25-26 I think they take a step back, and are a bubble team. Def a few up-and-coming teams coming out of the west. I guess time will tell

who "deserved" McDavid then?

 

[WATTAGE4451]

I mean it’s a salary cap era currently. It’s pretty pertinent information.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But this contract weighs extremely heavily in the Oilers future, as does Bouchard, as does McDavids.

I’d agree if the cap weren’t a hard cap, but it is.

The problem isnt drai mcdavids and bouchs contracts but nurse's contract as he is one of the highest paid defensemem in the league signed through 2030 and yet he cant even play good enough defense on the 2nd pair and should probably be a 3rd pairing defenseman.

The actualy performing contracts are less of an issue than the dead money high paid contract

 

[Half Clapper]

who "deserved" McDavid then?

Honestly Arizona. It would have grown that market like crazy, and I think they still have a team if he went there. It's too bad they had that idiot Chayka in charge then though.

Arizona never got to draft first overall once in their history.

 

[BleedBlue14]

The problem isnt drai mcdavids and bouchs contracts but nurse's contract as he is one of the highest paid defensemem in the league signed through 2030 and yet he cant even play good enough defense on the 2nd pair and should probably be a 3rd pairing defenseman.

The actualy performing contracts are less of an issue than the dead money high paid contract

I completely agree. Especially with McDavid and Draisaitl. You pay to keep two top 5 players in the league.

I specifically pointed that out in that post in reply to someone commenting about speculating on contracts that aren’t even signed yet. That’s why I added those 3 as they have extensions looming.

I think Nurse is a fine 2nd pairing guy. But he’s being paid to be a #1. I just don’t see how you move that with the protection.

 

[GOilers88]

The Oilers have always just been an easy team to root against! But ya they didn't deserve McDavid due to their absolute poor drafting, roster building, and overall poor uninspiring play for years leading up to getting him. One of the worst drafting teams in the NHL, and it doesn't look like it is getting any better.

The Oilers are a top 3 cup favourite next year, but in 25-26 I think they take a step back, and are a bubble team. Def a few up-and-coming teams coming out of the west. I guess time will tell


You act like having Mcdavid will mean the oilers can compete for cups. That isn't how it works. You can't have two star players without other pieces like in basketball and win it all.

Ex) Chicago had - Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, Hossa, and Sharp as their core guys when they won three cups. Edmonton just doesn't have that...

You act like Edmonton has no other players surrounding McDavid and Draisaitl.

But I'm not going to argue. People putting out arbitrary numbers as a cup window like it's set in stone are silly as hell. This doesn't just go for the Oilers either. This is across the whole forum.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Fair point. How can you explain his stats away from McDavid? He didn't look so hot without him carrying play. I think in 21-22 he was a special player worth every penny he is getting now, but I watched him last year, and I didn't think he was as good. He gets a lot of his points on the PP and didn't look like an elite line driver.

I mean, ultimately the playoffs are a small sample size and draisatil has been injurednduring a lot of that sample size. He broke his during game 7 of the canucks series and played the last 2 rounds with a broken rib and finger. The 2021-2022 playoffs he was playing on one leg. Those injuries are gonna hurt his stats when hes got mediocre wingers on top of it. Now it is problematic that he is always getting injured but thats partially commonplace in the playoffs now.

 

[Half Clapper]

You act like Edmonton has no other players surrounding McDavid and Draisaitl.

But I'm not going to argue. People putting out arbitrary numbers as a cup window like it's set in stone are silly as hell. This doesn't just go for the Oilers either. This is across the whole forum.

Cup windows are a real thing buddy. The Oilers aren't getting any younger. They have some solid players yes, but do they have a Hossa-type Selke forward or a pair like Keith and seabrook?

 

[Soundwave]

That's actually huge.

Then the price increase of the one year takes McDavids and then Bouchard has to be figured out.

Very interesting.

Yeah, basically Neal dead cap + Brown bonus (roughly 5.2 mill combined) coming off the cap covers most of Draisaitl's raise (all but 500k of it). 8.5 + 5.2 is 13.5 million. So his raise is basically priced into the Oilers cap already.

Assuming 4 mill cap rise for next year, that covers a large chunk of Bouchard's raise. Most people are projecting a cap rise of 88 mill to 92 mill for next summer.

McDavid's raise from 12.5 to presumably 16 is covered by probably a large rise in the cap that off-season. Probably looking at the cap going from 92 to 97 or more that summer. New Canadian TV deal is coming that year so good timing.

Likely you have to move a piece like Evander Kane but his NMC becomes a 16 team NTC this trade deadline.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Honestly Arizona. It would have grown that market like crazy, and I think they still have a team if he went there. It's too bad they had that idiot Chayka in charge then though.

Arizona was a mess on and off the ice....from incompetent ownership, to Arena issues to drafting and developing

 

[GOilers88]

Cup windows are a real thing buddy. The Oilers aren't getting any younger.

I never said they weren't a real thing.

Just that a bunch of rando's on the internet are the last group of people I'd put any stock into. Especially the main forums on this site. That's like listening to Logan Paul give morality lessons or learning how to drive with a blind instructor.

 

[banks]

He absolutely deserves every penny of this after he outperformed his previous contract by so much.

Go get 'em, Leon.

 

[Half Clapper]

Arizona was a mess on and off the ice....from incompetent ownership, to Arena issues to drafting and developing

So were the Oilers lol. They were a laughingstock for years.

 

[TGWL]

it's been consensus for a while now that nate is #2 to mcdavid.

2 years ago before the 2022-2023 season? Absolutely not. You could have made an argument for a couple of players in that #2 spot. It definitely wasn't a consensus.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

So were the Oilers lol. They were a laughingstock for years.

Oilers have a great owner willing to spend to the cap every year and one of the best Arena's in the world

Arizona has none of these things, hence why they're in Utah lol