Confirmed with Link: [EDM] Oilers extend Leon Draisaitl (8 Years, $14M AAV, NMC)

[JeffSkinner53]

Draisaitl will still be a star at 36.

He could probably play til 50 in "drais corner" on the PP

 

[94 Oil Drops]

"LMAO! What kind of idiot would sign that long to play in the worst city in North America!?"

- Some Canucks or Leafs Fan Probably

It actually happened. It's expensive but honestly could of been worse. Glad you're staying aboard Leon! We've loved having you here and we're looking forward to watching you play in the orange and blue for many more years to come!

 

[Broberg Speed]

He could probably play til 50 in "drais corner" on the PP

Compare Crosby's first 10 years in the league to Draisaitl's... including playoffs. Identical within a few points.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830998693052588274

This guys lost it LMAO

-Draisaitl signs for life with the Oilers

-Nucks media “Another feather in the cap for our Nucks dynasty”

 

[OfCorsiDid]

And this from Leon's fiancee.
But but but.. she's an actress so it'll mean Leon will sign elsewhere in the States.

"the privilege to call Edmonton home"

said from an Ontario native, who has lived in Toronto most of her adult life.

That's probably why Leaf land is in a state of cope and rage today

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

"the privilege to call Edmonton home"

said from an Ontario native, who has lived in Toronto most of her adult life.

That's probably why Leaf land is in a state of cope and rage today

Man Leon picked a good one. What a lovely and supportive woman. They’re both lucky

 

[bucks_oil]

I watched Gretzky get sold. Coffey traded over money. I watched Messier get sold. Kurri. Andersen. Tikkanen. Cujo. Weight. Smyth. On and on. So it’s pleasing to see a legitimate superstar sign a contract that will see him retire in our jersey rather than seeing our idols in other colours. I can only hope we see McDavid do the same.

Let’s not be harsh on people wishing the AAV was lower. I do too. The elephant in the room is how short on assets we are and how low on cap space we will be finding ourselves. The goal is the Cup. I hope we will be competitive when paying Nurse, Drai, McDavid and soon Bouchard. I honestly don’t know if we will be able to.

Time will tell, but we have a great player and we kept that great player.

With dead cap, rising cap and expiring contracts, we have a tonne of available cap space by summer 2026 (when McD will kick in).

In addition to that, the cap is due to rise ~$15M in that time.

Roster at that time would look like:
Nuge McD Hyman
XXX Drai XXX
XXX XXX XXX
Janmark XXX XXX

XXX Bouch
Nurse XXX
XXX Brown

XXX
XXX

With a total of ~$50M spent and about $88+4+4 = ~$96M for a total cap.

That leaves us with $46M to sign 14 players, $44 with Campbell's buyout on the books still.

That's an average of $3M per player.

I think we are all within reason to worry, but there is plenty of maneuverability, even with those signings.

Look at the guys we were able to sign in the last year: Skinner @ $3M, Arvidssson @ $4M, Henrique at $3M.

The first year or two of McD's contract will be tight, but we still have plenty of cap to spend.

Even just balparking it:

Nuge McD Hyman
$4M. Drai $3M
$1M ELC. $3M. $3M
$1.5M $1.5M $1M ELC

$7M Bouch
Nurse $5M
$1.5M $1M (ELC)

$6M
$1M ELC

This still leaves us $4.5M for two more replacement level players... and some buffer in case we pay more than I've allocated above.

The nice part about our old team is that we have exactly ZERO guys on our roster whose contract will expire and be expecting a raise. Any UFAs we sign will be prime aged and/or role players. We just have to be judicious.

 

[gordonhught]

With dead cap, rising cap and expiring contracts, we have a tonne of available cap space by summer 2026 (when McD will kick in).

In addition to that, the cap is due to rise ~$15M in that time.

Roster at that time would look like:
Nuge McD Hyman
XXX Drai XXX
XXX XXX XXX
Janmark XXX XXX

XXX Bouch
Nurse XXX
XXX Brown

XXX
XXX

With a total of ~$50M spent and about $88+4+4 = ~$96M for a total cap.

That leaves us with $46M to sign 14 players, $44 with Campbell's buyout on the books still.

That's an average of $3M per player.

I think we are all within reason to worry, but there is plenty of maneuverability, even with those signings.

Look at the guys we were able to sign in the last year: Skinner @ $3M, Arvidssson @ $4M, Henrique at $3M.

The first year or two of McD's contract will be tight, but we still have plenty of cap to spend.

Even just balparking it:

Nuge McD Hyman
$4M. Drai $3M
$1M ELC. $3M. $3M
$1.5M $1.5M $1M ELC

$7M Bouch
Nurse $5M
$1.5M $1M (ELC)

$6M
$1M ELC

This still leaves us $4.5M for two more replacement level players... and some buffer in case we pay more than I've allocated above.

The nice part about our old team is that we have exactly ZERO guys on our roster whose contract will expire and be expecting a raise. Any UFAs we sign will be prime aged and/or role players. We just have to be judicious.

Don't forget McDavid getting AM to come to EDM on a one year deal for a cup.

 

[fuswald]

There’s only one that matters. “We’re both extending right? Ok cool”



True. But McDavid’s always made it pretty clear he values winning above anything else

What else can McDavid say.

 

[gordonhught]

Only a week ago my posts were getting deleted for suggesting Draisaitl will take 14+, while many were believing he would come in at 12-12.5.

He was playing on the best contract in the league for 5+ years now, it's his right and he deserves to take as much as we were capable of giving 100%. Superstar player.

We better pray the cap skyrockets though.

In 3 years the 14 mil/year will be fine again. Just like his last deal.

 

[Canovin]

I'm going to guess the cap is going to be 102M in 3 years. That Savoie 3years ELC is going to really help the Oilers

 

[Fourier]

Only a week ago my posts were getting deleted for suggesting Draisaitl will take 14+, while many were believing he would come in at 12-12.5.

He was playing on the best contract in the league for 5+ years now, it's his right and he deserves to take as much as we were capable of giving 100%. Superstar player.

We better pray the cap skyrockets though.

There was a poll on this on this board and in that poll 12% of those who voted thought he would sign for under $13M. The largest vote was in the $13.5-14M range at 42.6%. I am not sure that there are more than a few posters here who thought it would be much less.

 

[The Nuge]

What else can McDavid say.

It’s not just about what he says though. On his current deal, he took less money than Chia offered because he wanted us to have more cap to ice a contending team. That goes beyond the usual lip service

 

[Duder54]

Was kind of hoping they'd find a way to defer some of the payment to help lower the AVV, but both parties need to be open to that. In any case, glad to see one of the best players in the world re-up their commitment to Edmonton. Let's hope the Oilers can find a way to build a team around Drai and McDavid within the confines of the cap.

 

[bellagiobob]

Having watched every single Oiler star player of the past 40 years be traded or leave the team for greener pastures, it’s nice to finally have one that wants to stay here. It really does mean a lot to our northern community and its rabid fans. We can gripe about the AAV or the no deferral, but end of the day it’s a fair contract for both sides, and very glad to have Leon decide to remain an Oiler for life.

 

[TB12]

Don't want mathews

lol what? I never said anything about Matthews. I was saying Drai and Connor want to play together.

 

[SK13]

Conservatively, the cap is projected to be around ~95M or higher on July 1, 2026. Draisaitl's 15% would be the equivalent of a 12.5M signed with a flat 83M cap. It's a high tax market. Their take home is THE relevant number for a player signing a contract for the MAJORITY of their earning potential for the rest of their life.

I said all along these numbers are going to be higher than you want them to be, but they aren't out of line with the market factors, so ya'll need to get good with Bouchard at 10M and McDavid at 16M - cuz that's next.

 

[Soundwave]

Conservatively, the cap is projected to be around ~95M or higher on July 1, 2026. Draisaitl's 15% would be the equivalent of a 12.5M signed with a flat 83M cap. It's a high tax market. Their take home is relevant.

I said all along these numbers are going to be higher than you want them to be, but they aren't out of line with the market factors, so ya'll need to get good with Bouchard at 10M and McDavid at 16M - cuz that's next.

I don't think they can do Bouchard at 10. It's going to have to be like a 2 year bridge at 8.7 or something that takes him to UFA.

If you want to keep him after that, you probably have to dump Nurse in summer 2027.

 

[Drivesaitl]

And this from Leon's fiancee.
But but but.. she's an actress so it'll mean Leon will sign elsewhere in the States.

Now if she could just stop tiring him out so much....


jk


Adorable message from an adorable fiance. She ain't no Janet Jones this gal. Glad of that.

Again wasn't sure about this one but thrilled Leon continues here and that they are happy living and playing here.

 

[Soundwave]

Now if she could just stop tiring him out so much....


jk


Adorable message from an adorable fiance. She ain't no Janet Jones this gal. Glad of that.

Again wasn't sure about this one but thrilled Leon continues here and that they are happy living and playing here.

McDavid and Draisaitl having Canadian fiances/wifeys creates a different ball game, Canadian girls aren't that hung up on running to the US, Canada is home and they know they have more than enough money to do trips to Cabo or LA or New York or even Europe when ever they want.

The stuff about her having an acting career and forcing Leon to go to LA was always bunk.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Guys almost making 200 million off playing hockey it's wild.

 

[Soundwave]

In fairness to Janet Jones as well, if Wayne had stayed in Edmonton she would've accepted that. She hit the jack pot marrying the prince of Canada basically (lol) and she knew it, she wasn't going to force him to leave a championship team to film Police Academy movies.

Pocklington f***ed that situation up. If we had an owner like Katz back then, Gretzky would've been an Oiler until at least 1992 or 1993.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Go look at NBA and MLB salaries, and then go look at soccer, lol. Hockey is small potatoes.

In fairness to Janet Jones as well, if Wayne had stayed in Edmonton she would've accepted that. She hit the jack pot marrying the prince of Canada basically (lol) and she knew it, she wasn't going to force him to leave a championship team to film Police Academy movies.

Pocklington f***ed that situation up. If we had an owner like Katz back then, Gretzky would've been an Oiler until at least 1992 or 1993.

Yeah in familiar but it's still crazy to think that leons walking away at the end with like 170 million.

 

[McJadeddog]

Lots of fans hate Daryl Katz. You listen to Drai, and the first person he thanked was Katz.

First person that McDavid thanked as well when he signed his first 8 year deal. Both McDavid and Drai bring up the Katz family all the time as reasons they are happy in Edmonton. Katz might have reasons to not like him, but the players obviously think highly of the family.

 

[Soundwave]

First person that McDavid thanked as well when he signed his first 8 year deal. Both McDavid and Drai bring up the Katz family all the time as reasons they are happy in Edmonton. Katz might have reasons to not like him, but the players obviously think highly of the family.

You can tell the Katz family (say what you want) take good care of everyone in the org.

I remember seeing that Harrison Katz had rented out that luxury box suite at the Vegas arena and Paulina Gretzky (Wayne's daughter) was up there chilling with them that night we could have broken the regular season win streak record.

Say what you want, but they take care of Oilers and extended fam too.