Sorry I just need to get this off my chest (I quoted you, but I am not necessarily directing this at you specifically).
First the minor quibble - taxes for professional NHL athletes is not simply 50% in this market. That is simply not how the tax structure works, because his place of work is not solely Edmonton, AB. The tax is significantly more complicated than that as it needs to factor earnings earned in both Canada & the US in their respective provinces and states for an employee who may or may not be a permanent resident of either Canada or the US which complicates matters even further. It also completely ignores available tax strategies in the associated Countries and States/Provinces. At the end of the day, his tax exposure is definitely less than 50%.
Now the main item that's been getting under my skin - with Draisaitl coming up for extension, a lot of the talk is about him being underpaid (yes, based on his performance over the past 7 years we can say he is currently underpaid). However, a lot of the time this has been and is being framed in a way that suggests that Draisaitl did the Oilers a solid for signing that deal for that low of a value for 8 years when he signed it. That is just not accurate, and completely ignores the risk at the time of contract signing, which was the potential of busting after coming off of a heater over a small sample. I would argue that at the time the deal was signed, the risk was higher for him not being able to live up the the full amount of the contract. Luckily for the Oiler's Leon Draisaitl became what he is, which is something no one at the time of the signing could have rationally predicted (becoming in my opinion the second best player in hockey today).
Draisaitl - solely based on his performance - has earned the right to be paid on his next contract, whatever that number might be. However, Draisaitl does not deserve to get paid because his current contract does not match his market value today. If he wants to take $14M, that is his right and I would understand (I would pay him this as well). But I would hope that he comes in somewhere between $11-$13M, because that 'discount' will be useful in providing the Oilers the opportunity & ability to keep the team hyper competitive over the next 5-6 years (maximizing his and Connor's remaining prime years).
Can we please stop suggesting Draisaitl knowingly took a discount, and as a result deserves to be compensated to taking said discount? It's just a silly, untrue narrative that takes away from the actual reason he deserves a raise - his performance.