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

[GOilers88]

Yet you're a rando on here posting and arguing about it. Some people on this website are well-informed and have followed hockey for years in depth. They know more than a lot of these wannabe insiders.

There's a handful of really good posters, absolutely.

The main boards isn't where you go for well thought out and well articulated information though. It's more like dipping your toes into a lagoon. Hence why I'm laughing at anyone in this thread coming up with some arbitrary number as the Oilers only chance to win a cup.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

A great owner? I wouldn't go that far. I am saying that who knows what would happen if they got a franchise-changing player.

I would....the first thing Draisaitl said yesterday was to thank the owner of the team and his family

if your franchise needs McDavid to survive, your franchise probably doesn't "deserve" him

 

[Soundwave]

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

The thing is I don't really give a crap about people who use this line of logic (yoooo didnta deserve McDavid!!!!).

The Oilers for years built good teams against teams with 2-3x the payroll and then had to sell off their star players like Weight and Guerin. Then after the lockout the team does everything right and their first chance on even ground they go straight to a Cup Final with Pronger.

Then people were laughing it up as Pronger traded out gutting a contending team, and the fallout from that made it almost impossible to sign any good UFAs (tried with Heatley and Hossa). We got zero credit for trying to do things the right way. Tried to build winning teams around players like Dustin Penner and Sheldon Souray.

Eventually we opted to go the Pittsburgh route and eventually hit pay dirt with Draisaitl and McDavid.

Losing the McDavid lottery is not an excuse for Arizona and Buffalo to suck for a further 9+ years now too. They were purposefully tanking that season too, the Oilers were the only team at the bottom that was trying to win games because Todd Nelson had been named interim coach and the team was actually playing better down the stretch whereas Arizona was doing crap like purposefully dumping players on their roster that were playing too well.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

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.

Next year is probably their best shot, before the raises and i agree it fades after that. Right now they are getting bargain from both their top pair ekholm and bouchard but bouchard will get great raise and ekholm who is on absrudly good contract for what he brings is ablut to age out and they wont find a replacement of his qualjty close to that cheap. Their bargain production on defense helped cancel out the contract of nurse. Otherwise, their defense will be in danger of collapsing again afzer ekholm. They will need to trade draft picks to move nurse at some point.

 

[jonu]

Brutal to be paying 3rd line 37yo Drai 14m by the end of the contract and if he is a higher line player he is only blocking the pipeline.

(I used Saros detractor logic in this post)

 

[trojansoilers]

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...

And Edmonton has McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Ekholm, Hyman, and RNH as our core guys that came 1 goal short of a cup.
Seeing Henrique, Arvidsson, and Skinner sign cheap deals to play alongside them proves that good players will continue to sign with the Oilers in hopes of winning a cup.

Take it for what it is and don't overthink it. You just don't let a top 5 player leave for nothing, and especially not the guy who's a ride or die with the #1.

 

[Soundwave]

Brutal to be paying 3rd line 37yo Drai 14m by the end of the contract and if he is a higher line player he is only blocking the pipeline.

(I used Saros detractor logic in this post)

Yeah being able to watch Draisaitl and also now probably McDavid for their entire primes sure is going to be rough. Poor Oiler fans.

 

[Half Clapper]

And Edmonton has McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Ekholm, Hyman, and RNH as our core guys that came 1 goal short of a cup.
Seeing Henrique, Arvidsson, and Skinner sign cheap deals to play alongside them proves that good players will continue to sign with the Oilers in hopes of winning a cup.

Take it for what it is and don't overthink it. You just don't let a top 5 player leave for nothing, and especially not the guy who's a ride or die with the #1.

That core doesn't compare to Chicago...Sorry buddy. I haven't overthought anything. The Oilers are a flawed team. Henrique, arvidson and skinner aren't game changing players lol. Skinner stunk in Buffalo. Arvidsson isn't bad, but he isn't some big time player. And henrique isn't getting any younger.

Like I said they got some good players and are a cup favourite next year. Nobody is arguing that! But their cup window is dwindling fast.

 

[Half Clapper]

The thing is I don't really give a crap about people who use this line of logic (yoooo didnta deserve McDavid!!!!).

The Oilers for years built good teams against teams with 2-3x the payroll and then had to sell off their star players like Weight and Guerin. Then after the lockout the team does everything right and their first chance on even ground they go straight to a Cup Final with Pronger.

Then people were laughing it up as Pronger traded out gutting a contending team, and the fallout from that made it almost impossible to sign any good UFAs (tried with Heatley and Hossa). We got zero credit for trying to do things the right way. Tried to build winning teams around players like Dustin Penner and Sheldon Souray.

Eventually we opted to go the Pittsburgh route and eventually hit pay dirt with Draisaitl and McDavid.

Losing the McDavid lottery is not an excuse for Arizona and Buffalo to suck for a further 9+ years now too. They were purposefully tanking that season too, the Oilers were the only team at the bottom that was trying to win games because Todd Nelson had been named interim coach and the team was actually playing better down the stretch whereas Arizona was doing crap like purposefully dumping players on their roster that were playing too well.

The Oilers went 10 years without making the playoffs and had the old boys' club running them into the ground! I am not saying it is an excuse for these teams, trust me Arizona got what they deserved, but if the Oilers didn't get McDavid they most likely would have still been in the same mess as Buffalo and Arizona right now.

 

[Soundwave]

That core doesn't compare to Chicago...Sorry buddy. I haven't overthought anything. The Oilers are a flawed team. Henrique, arvidson and skinner aren't game changing players lol. Skinner stunk in Buffalo. Arvidsson isn't bad, but he isn't some big time player. And henrique isn't getting any younger.

Like I said they got some good players and are a cup favourite next year. Nobody is arguing that! But their cup window is dwindling fast.

You do realize like realistically most 90% of teams don't ever have a real Cup window. Many of these teams that are building now with hopes and dreams of being something someday won't ever even make 1 Cup final, that's the cold, hard truth.

To have a real Cup window is a privilege, to have the best player of the modern era in his prime to watch and enjoy every other night is also an extremely rare privilege.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I just think the Oilers were so bad for so long without even trying to compete, which I am not a fan of. I think a team should always compete every night no matter what management wants. Ya, I def could see that happening.

Also, the whole Perlini waiver mess wasn't a good look either. His mom tweeting about it was why he wasn't resigned, but who knows for sure. There is a reason a lot of fans are cheering for them to lose.

Oh, they were trying. They just had an incompetent President (Lowe) hiring incompetent GM's. They had the year they were forced into a rebuild, and then years of being awful because the people running the show were bad at their jobs.

I had forgotten about the Perlini situation, but yes, that was unprofessional as well. Trust me, most Oiler fans don't defend the history of our management.

 

[McShogun99]

The thing is I don't really give a crap about people who use this line of logic (yoooo didnta deserve McDavid!!!!).

The Oilers for years built good teams against teams with 2-3x the payroll and then had to sell off their star players like Weight and Guerin. Then after the lockout the team does everything right and their first chance on even ground they go straight to a Cup Final with Pronger.

Then people were laughing it up as Pronger traded out gutting a contending team, and the fallout from that made it almost impossible to sign any good UFAs (tried with Heatley and Hossa). We got zero credit for trying to do things the right way. Tried to build winning teams around players like Dustin Penner and Sheldon Souray.

Eventually we opted to go the Pittsburgh route and eventually hit pay dirt with Draisaitl and McDavid.

Losing the McDavid lottery is not an excuse for Arizona and Buffalo to suck for a further 9+ years now too. They were purposefully tanking that season too, the Oilers were the only team at the bottom that was trying to win games because Todd Nelson had been named interim coach and the team was actually playing better down the stretch whereas Arizona was doing crap like purposefully dumping players on their roster that were playing too well.

Not just that but even when we were one of the worst teams in the league the fans were still selling out the arena.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

With Draisaitl's contract done with I'm guessing that McDavid is going to get 16 x 8. Some think he'll sign a carbon copy of this Draisaitl contract but I highly doubt it tbh. Good thing the cap is set to keep increasing.

 

[Akrapovince]

5m - McDavid - 5m
3m - Draisatl - 4m

Let’s not talk about Draisatl most common team mates, let’s talk about he undoubtably would be able to make a top six with most competent players.

Instead of looking at a single players cap hit, I would look at the total value of the line.

For example, if Ottawa were to run:

Brady Tkachuk(8.2) - Tim Stützle(8.3) - Giroux (6.5)

It would be close to what Drai’s line would be making. I’m confident Drai can put up another 100 point season and help Skinner put up goals and Arvidsson close to point per game.

Maybe the Ottawa line isn’t the best comparison because they aren’t exactly a Stanley calibre team but you get my point.

 

[Strangle]

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.

Dubas, is that you?

 

[Soundwave]

Dubas, is that you?

People shit on Dubas but it's not his fault his golden boys don't show up to play in the playoffs.

Matthews' playoff PPG is barely higher than Nugent Hopkins and lower than Evan Bouchard's, not even in the same planet as McDavid and Draisaitl and MacKinnon.

The Leafs aren't the benchmark for anything. 0.84 playoff ppg ... 1st round exits are well deserved.

 

[Half Clapper]

You do realize like realistically most 90% of teams don't ever have a real Cup window. Many of these teams that are building now with hopes and dreams of being something someday won't ever even make 1 Cup final, that's the cold, hard truth.

To have a real Cup window is a privilege, to have the best player of the modern era in his prime to watch and enjoy every other night is also an extremely rare privilege.

Ya hitting on the right draft picks and a GM who signs players to the right contracts is really what sets a team up from being a contender to a pretender.

 

[Coffey]

That's my point. The Oilers didn't deserve it.

Nobody "deserves" anything in sports.
Luck of the draw.

 

[Soundwave]

Ya hitting on the right draft picks and a GM who signs players to the right contracts is really what sets a team up from being a contender to a pretender.

Every team wants to do that and romanticizes that idea ... here's the ugly truth ... most of these teams will fail with their current "build" that they're hoping for big things from in the next 4-5 years.

They will even fail with the next build they do the 5 years after that, lol.

That's the cold, hard reality of pro sports. It's really only like 25% of teams that generally even get what is a real actual championship window (as in they literally are in a Final with a chance to win more than a one off Cinderella run), 75% of everyone else is f***ed just based on probability.

It's like people who go to Hollywood thinking they can be a star, for every one that makes it, 10 (well really it's far more than that) don't even come close.

 

[snag]

Hmmmm......I thought the Nostradamus' of HF said he was a goner.

 

[K1900L]

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

No it's not. There is a group of players who have a point to be #2 behind McDavid. There definitely isn't a consensus and the opinion basically changes from season to season depending on how the players of this group perform. It has been like this for 5-6 years now.

 

[Half Clapper]

Every team wants to do that and romanticizes that idea ... here's the ugly truth ... most of these teams will fail with their current "build" that they're hoping for big things from in the next 4-5 years.

They will even fail with the next build they do the 5 years after that, lol.

That's the cold, hard reality of pro sports. It's really only like 25% of teams that generally have any big success, 75% of everyone else is f***ed just based on probability.

Unless you're Boston, Tampa, or Detroit in their heyday. St. Louis has also had good success for a number of years.

But my point still stands, if you draft the right pieces and have a competent GM your odds go way up. There is a reason Detroit was good for so long.

 

[Soundwave]

Unless you're Boston, Tampa, or Detroit in their heyday. St. Louis has also had good success for a number of years.

But my point still stands, if you draft the right pieces and have a competent GM your odds go way up. There is a reason Detroit was good for so long.

People understate dumb luck in a lot of this too. Fluking out with a Lidstrom in the 4th or 5th round is franchise altering.

 

[MessierII]

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.

Talk about a waste. As if that tire fire would have straitened itself out.

 

[LTIR]

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

Umm yes, a banner will be raised for it.
Lol at your knowledge level re this.