At 14M per, he'd be making about 15% of the Cap in 2025-2026.
Connor McDavid made 15% of the cap this year on a deal that underpays him by 3M or more based on value per point, based on a deal he signed in 2016. Draisaitl is #5 in all-time playoff PPG.
You want to pretend we're not a disadvantaged market because a few midrange players took discounts short-term for a chance at the Cup? Great. But a guy who has a chance to be one of the best European players ever in the NHL isn't going to look off his last decade of earning potential for Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Your perspective, if shared by the Oilers, could cost them the next 10 years. For what? A chance at a million dollars in cap savings?
So you think Drai, who has spent his entire career here with core members that are close friends of his and is well entrenched in the community and with the market after just about winning a Cup last season, will only stay in Edmonton if they pay him the most money possible and will be willing to take less elsewhere because it's warmer or something?
Is this what you mean by disadvantaged market that Drai will only stay in this undesirable location because of money and not because he actually prefers to stay in the location where he's spent his entire adult life?
The fact of the matter is that Drai can be here where by all accounts he's happy, take a bit of a pay cut still getting obscene amounts of stacks and create just a bit of flexibility for his team to compete for Cups.
Of course he has every right to squeeze as much out of the market as he desires but I don't see any reason why he couldn't take a bit of a pay cut to help the team that he wants to win with. He could get 8 years $13m/yr and still be well off.
I bet that McDavid will because he's leagues above everybody else and get the max if he wants but he'll likely settle in the $15m range which will be a big pay cut.