Player Discussion Leon Draisaitl's next contract

[Stoneman89]

The injuries happen because of the nature of the hold puck style Drai plays on halfboards and draws double coverage, and often has to, to create pass openings.

Simply put Drai is a figurative QB in Ozone taking hits to make plays. Thats his bread and butter, and he eats tons of punishment every year.

The specific injuries may not recur as exactly the same but the dynamic of what produces the injuries stays the same and gets worse with age as Drai loses first steps and separation ability.

We know the NHL won't change either. The league will continue to allow the abuse Drai receives.

In playoffs every post season now and leading into it divisional foes will just have as intent "lets injure Drai" They do that anyway they can. As if its one of the objectives on the chalk board.

Some truth to this, but the one of the reasons Drai gets hit more than say McDavid, is when he stops skating, either through being exhausted, taking too long a shift, or when he's "off" and just doesn't have it that night or that stretch. Makes him a much easier target to defend and also foul. Pietrangelo's wicked slash out of nowhere an exception.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It will be almost impossible to win a cup after this season if all our superstars squeeze us out.

And that's Leon, which means Connor would come in at a higher cost.

 

[brentashton]

Yah. I’m not overly concerned about the cups as some here. It takes a lot to win and in a 32 team league I don’t think you can hold it against a player for having zero. The oilers are knocking on the door and the maple leafs aren’t. That’s what I focus on more. Cheap depth is always available. Role players can always be found and someone is always to step up when put in the right position. Look at Janmark these last two playoffs. You can’t always find a superstar and when you do they eventually get paid.

Cup winners always have holes because you can’t have the perfect roster. As long as we have McDavid and drai we can live with our holes. I’m sure many hate nurses contract but let’s not act like he’s overpaid by 9 million dollars. I like our guys and think we have a better chance than most. As long as the guys perform I’m happy.

I want more than participation ribbons, at the end of these 2 beasts’ careers.

 

[Yuke]

The only way McDavid doesn't leave a year later is if the return is Matthews or Bedard or MacKinnon. A bunch of lesser pieces with no other superstar to play with is not going to entice him into staying.

How is the Nurse signing working out. Those 3 are tight.

 

[OilerTyler]

How is the Nurse signing working out. Those 3 are tight.

We got to game 7 of the SCF with it.

As someone who was around through the decade of darkness I think it's better to have overpaid good players than no good players at all. We're seeing players take discounts to join our team and play alongside our stars. Lock up McDavid and Drai and I don't think filling out the rest of the roster will be a problem, even if they are overpaid by a couple million.

 

[McHelpus]

We got to game 7 of the SCF with it.

As someone who was around through the decade of darkness I think it's better to have overpaid good players than no good players at all. We're seeing players take discounts to join our team and play alongside our stars. Lock up McDavid and Drai and I don't think filling out the rest of the roster will be a problem, even if they are overpaid by a couple million.

Replace Nurse with a Dman actually worth his AAV they would have won 2 Cups by now.

 

[Duke74]

So he's great, but when the whistles go away and players can take a pound of flesh with each slash and cross check, he is a less effective. Who knew?

Yeah, Draisaitl getting injured every playoff is a concern. It's a concern about the league, is officiating, players safety and the ability to protect players.

I agree that the league needs to enforce player safety more in the playoffs. However, other star players seem to make it through to the finals or even conference finals without an injury that significantly impedes their performance: MacKinnon, Eichel, Barkov, etc. Those guys can take a beating and still make significant contributions so I don't know if durability is becoming a concern for Draisaitl at this stage of his career. I hope not, but three injuries three playoff years in a row is a bit of a red flag.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Yeesh
Now Seravalli is saying Draisaitl won't be taking a discount and that $14 million is "the starting point" and "will be an AAV record setter"

The window is shut to me when McDavid signs his new deal. Nurse contract is atrocious. Bowman will have to find impact making ELC players to win anything here

 

[TB12]

We got to game 7 of the SCF with it.

As someone who was around through the decade of darkness I think it's better to have overpaid good players than no good players at all. We're seeing players take discounts to join our team and play alongside our stars. Lock up McDavid and Drai and I don't think filling out the rest of the roster will be a problem, even if they are overpaid by a couple million.

This. Well said.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

The Avs will continue to be our competition.

Their best player is paid 12.6M. We’ll be hard pressed to compete paying our 2nd best player 2M more than that,

Drai needs to take a discount.

Yup. We are screwed cap wise. What will McDavid want? Only way to combat is to hit on player trades for guys who haven't broke out and also have 1/2 ELC players who can play full time

 

[OilerTyler]

Replace Nurse with a Dman actually worth his AAV they would have won 2 Cups by now.

There isn't a team out there that doesn't have overpaid players on their roster though. The key is to find deals elsewhere to make up for it. The Oilers are actually doing really well right now. Players like Bouchard, Draisaitl, Hyman, Nuge, Skinner are all drastically underpaid for this season. Expecting every player on the team to be worth their contract or outperforming it isn't realistic.

 

[Oilslick941611]

We got to game 7 of the SCF with it.

As someone who was around through the decade of darkness I think it's better to have overpaid good players than no good players at all. We're seeing players take discounts to join our team and play alongside our stars. Lock up McDavid and Drai and I don't think filling out the rest of the roster will be a problem, even if they are overpaid by a couple million.

I remember being up against the cap some years in the decade of darkness and having nothing to show for it.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

There isn't a team out there that doesn't have overpaid players on their roster though. The key is to find deals elsewhere to make up for it. The Oilers are actually doing really well right now. Players like Bouchard, Draisaitl, Hyman, Nuge, Skinner are all drastically underpaid for this season. Expecting every player on the team to be worth their contract or outperforming it isn't realistic.

We wouldn't have to find deals elsewhere if his contract was negotiated better. Yeah, every team has overpaid players but very few have a Nurse-like overpayment. And that's not even getting into the dead cap space from buyouts from previous poor transactions.

 

[MoontoScott]

Cap problems and overpaid players are an emerging issue all over the league. If someone out there is having fun at the Oiler's expense (Canucks as one example) then my best advice is stay tuned because your turn is coming.

Look at all the gigantic contracts that were handed out in the last year. I promise that its all coming around.

 

[Soundwave]

How is the Nurse signing working out. Those 3 are tight.

Nurse never was even close to being a top 3-8 player in the league, Draisaitl has a case, so that's fairly irrelevant.

 

[Fourier]

It’s just honest to mention his injury history when discussing him. I have no doubt if he and McDavid were healthy we’d have beaten Florida last season. No doubt. None at all.

If you go back 5 years Leon has played 369 regular season games. Only 5 players have played more with Nick Suzuki leading the pack at 373, all of 4 games more than Leon. He has never missed a playoff game in his career. So while he did have recent injuries it is not really an "injury history" in the normal sense.

 

[Oilslick941611]

If you go back 5 years Leon has played 369 regular season games. Only 5 players have played more with Nick Suzuki leading the pack at 373, all of 4 games more than Leon. He has never missed a playoff game in his career. So while he did have recent injuries it is not really an "injury history" in the normal sense.

I know, it's why I'm thinking about it. To get the cup final, you have to play a lot of hockey. It's looking like the battle is taking its toll on Draisaitl and he takes a lot abuse that other players don't have to worry about. We can sit here and he doesn't miss games, but when he's in the final and not really contributing because hes so banged up you have to question it, and question all of it, not just Drai, but the league as a whole, as in why aren't they interested in protecting their stars/players?

I know for me, I'd rather him miss a few playoff games than playing in a series he doesn't contribute like he normally does. Then again, I don't value the old school " battle through everything and play even if you are hurting your team or just not contributing." Hindsight is everything and not good to judge past events but I kind of wish he rested Drai a little during the Dallas series. I want Drai on this team, but it's looking like we might need start managing his minutes like they do in the NBA with load management to better protect him, provided we have the luxury with the standings. I know we didn't have that luxury last season and basically had to fight at 110% since November.

I want Drai on this team and I want him to succeed. Don't take me thinking about this as hate or justifying not re-signing him. Im just looking at options to have him be as close to 100% as possible in the major moments. Connor McDavid too, he had a historic season last year, but didn't look right from the start. I just want them healthy and working the league over.

 

[Fourier]

I know, it's why I'm thinking about it. To get the cup final, you have to play a lot of hockey. It's looking like the battle is taking its toll on Draisaitl and he takes a lot abuse that other players don't have to worry about. We can sit here and he doesn't miss games, but when he's in the final and not really contributing because hes so banged up you have to question it, and question all of it, not just Drai, but the league as a whole, as in why aren't they interested in protecting their stars/players?

I know for me, I'd rather him miss a few playoff games than playing in a series he doesn't contribute like he normally does. Then again, I don't value the old school " battle through everything and play even if you are hurting your team or just not contributing." Hindsight is everything and not good to judge past events but I kind of wish he rested Drai a little during the Dallas series. I want Drai on this team, but it's looking like we might need start managing his minutes like they do in the NBA with load management to better protect him, provided we have the luxury with the standings. I know we didn't have that luxury last season and basically had to fight at 110% since November.

I want Drai on this team and I want him to succeed. Don't take me thinking about this as hate or justifying not re-signing him. Im just looking at options to have him be as close to 100% as possible in the major moments. Connor McDavid too, he had a historic season last year, but didn't look right from the start. I just want them healthy and working the league over.

At this point though we don't know that time is taking its toll. A broken rib and the type of high ankle sprain he had could literally happen to a player of any age any time.

The type of injuries that would be more of a concern would be concussions and things like tears in the knee ligaments or something like a chronic bad back. At some point he will slow down, but honestly, the way he has produced in the playoffs even with his injuries is still quite astonishing.

Strange thing about the NBA is that people see the league and think it is not physical like hockey. But that is not really true. Moreover, it is not the kind of things that impact a hockey player that are managed in the NBA. Guys that size playing 30 plus minutes sprinting, stopping and starting, jumping places an incredible toll on aging joints and tendons. Knees and ankles are pretty fragile in those environments and game management theoretically lowers the risk. Torn Achilles tendons are also common in the NBA for example, but very uncommon in the NHL. Shoulder separations would be the opposite. But you don't prevent a shoulder separation by game management.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

F***ing cap man!

Leon is going to get something like 14.7 x 8! Connor probably gets 16.5 x 8... I suspect Bouchard is going to get 9.3 x 6 when it's his turn?

If we can't win to cup next year, that's the end of the line and we're screwed.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

F***ing cap man!

Leon is going to get something like 14.7 x 8! Connor probably gets 16.5 x 8... I suspect Bouchard is going to get 9.3 x 6 when it's his turn?

If we can't win to cup next year, that's the end of the line and we're screwed.

Technically, we have already peaked out. The last 2/3 years was the year to win it. Still have PTSD from Game 7. Can't believe we lost.

We can still win, but statistically, the team has peaked. Management blew it.

 

[Slats432]

F***ing cap man!

Leon is going to get something like 14.7 x 8! Connor probably gets 16.5 x 8... I suspect Bouchard is going to get 9.3 x 6 when it's his turn?

If we can't win to cup next year, that's the end of the line and we're screwed.

 

[McHelpus]

There isn't a team out there that doesn't have overpaid players on their roster though. The key is to find deals elsewhere to make up for it. The Oilers are actually doing really well right now. Players like Bouchard, Draisaitl, Hyman, Nuge, Skinner are all drastically underpaid for this season. Expecting every player on the team to be worth their contract or outperforming it isn't realistic.

Feel like we are in a situation that they need him to be worth his AAV.

 

[K1984]

We got to game 7 of the SCF with it.

As someone who was around through the decade of darkness I think it's better to have overpaid good players than no good players at all. We're seeing players take discounts to join our team and play alongside our stars. Lock up McDavid and Drai and I don't think filling out the rest of the roster will be a problem, even if they are overpaid by a couple million.

People forget how grim it was when we were an organization of zero stature. We aren't Vegas, Tampa, Florida, New York, LA, Nashville, etc, etc. We have high taxes and are in an undesirable market. Without being competitive and having elite players on the roster we are on a total of zero player's NTC/NMC lists, and any UFA needs to be massively overpaid to come here. The on paper fantasies of "think of all the stuff we could do with that cap room!" are in fact non-existent because nobody of any quality is going to come here without the two of them here.

Vegas, Nashville, Tampa, etc, etc can sign and trade their way to elite status because every single player in the league would play there, and in some cases players make it that they will only play there. Conversely, pretty much the only way for the Oilers to organically acquire elite, foundational players is through the draft and we saw how much fun that was over a 10 year span until by the grace of god we finally landed on two elite players at the top of the draft after having the misfortune of picking high in years where the #1 prospect wasn't that hot.

We can certainly walk from Draisaitl over a relatively insignificant amount of AAV, but that will start a chain of events that take us down the dark road of probably being shitty for a pretty long time.

 

[Yuke]

The only way McDavid doesn't leave a year later is if the return is Matthews or Bedard or MacKinnon. A bunch of lesser pieces with no other superstar to play with is not going to entice him into staying.

A winning team will keep CM here. Trade wisely

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Lol that mitts twitter looking like fools everyone is gonna take a discount to win said no one