Speculation: Which teams would realistically be able and willing to sign Draisaitl if he didn't sign in Edmonton?

[BargainBinSpecial]

The Habs with all that cap space. But, he will prefer Vegas. Pretty sure, the Oilers will trade him for a king's ransom if he doesn't re-sgn before the trade deadline anyways.

 

[Canovin]

Chicago makes sense.

Then Drai can continue his career in the shadow of a Connor.

Hate to break it to you. Bedard won't be as good as Drai ever

 

[ChaoticOrange]

All the dreaming from fans of teams that finished bottom of the standings last year is kind of funny.

If Draisaitl leaves, it will be for a team that he can win a cup with. He's not going to want to languish at the bottom of the standings while 18 year old prospects mature.

If by some vast misfortune for Edmonton he does hit UFA, there will be 20 teams lined up around the block with max value, max term contracts in their grubby little mitts and a willingness to do what they need to do in order to make it work.

 

[Canovin]

If Drai isn't re-signing, Jackson is going to rob the team that trades for Drai to the point it'll extend Oilers cup window for another 10 years. Think McLeod+Tullio for Savoie but to a much larger scale

 

[A1LeafNation]

He wants to win though.

Better chance Leafs win when Marner walks than if he stays.

 

[StuckOutHere]

Leafs will wait a year for the other guy.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Montreal has everything needed to make this happen

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Calgary. Lets will it into existence. Top 10 anime betrayal in the making

Pig heads would be flying.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

If Drai isn't re-signing, Jackson is going to rob the team that trades for Drai to the point it'll extend Oilers cup window for another 10 years. Think McLeod+Tullio for Savoie but to a much larger scale

Aho + Nikishin incoming

 

[5 14 6 1]

The Oilers are going to sign him to an 8 year 105M dollar contract within a month

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Hate to break it to you. Bedard won't be as good as Drai ever

Bet he ends up with more Cups.

 

[Angler]

The Habs should have the cap space, but they struggle to attract big UFAs.

Are the posters suggesting Toronto serious? Marner isn't going anywhere and JT's money needs to be spend on a legitimate D core...

 

[5 14 6 1]

This isn't a knock on the Oilers and just something I wonder about "logistically" when a player who potentially is this expensive comes up at this point.
Especially as I'm in general really bad at reading and understanding potential trades.

Undoubtedly every team would love to have a guy like him, but which team would within this timeline actually be well suited, without throwing other parts of the team into chaos, say by sacrificing their top defensive line? And also have the money, or ability to move players to get that money?

Draisaitl wants to win as his priority #1. The Oilers are positioned as well as any team to do that right now. He is best friends with McDavid who he calls the best player to ever live. Their fiances are childhood friends and still best of friends to this day. Draisaitl called Katz the best owner in all of pro sports like a month ago. The Oilers have the best player facilities and support in the entire league. The odds of him leaving to me are less than 5%.

The only potential fits that I saw as threats were LA and Boston. LA has completely f***ed up their cap and fumbled their chances at a competitive team in the last two seasons imo. Boston just blew their wad on Lindholm and Big Z.

Boston has cap room next year yes, but they have 61M committed to 11 players without Marchand and Swayman signed. Assumimg 12-16M combined to re-sign those two, that puts Boston at 73-77M with 13 players on the books. Assume the cap goes up to 92M and assume Draisaitl would need 14M to sign that puts the team basically at the cap with 9 players needing to be signed. It would leave the rest of the team very thin.

I expect Draisaitl to sign a juicy lifetime set up contract of 8 years 100m plus with the Oilers.

 

[5 14 6 1]

I remember Jeff Marek saying something on the 32 thoughts podcast last year (or the year before) about there being rumors about the Sharks and Draisaitl, so if he were to go to FA, I think he ends up there but almost certainly stays in EDM.

I think that was entirely due to them having a German owner.

 

[Look Up]

TBL, FLA, DAL, VGK, NSH.

Add SEA to this list.

 

[AKL]

If he hits free agency, Minnesota will give it a ride I'm sure. Only issue is Guerin has taken away a lot of his own flexibility by giving certain bottom of the lineup players certain overpayments in AAV and certain NMC's. Don't think we'd be the most attractive option for Draisaitl anyway, but that's not the question of the thread.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Looking at Puckpedia, at least a 3rd could do it with zero to almost no effort.

 

[bear16]

I’m pretty sure the Utah ‘to be named later’ Yeti would LOVE to sign him

 

[benfranklin]

This should be a bigger storyline for the Oilers. Do they:

A. Assuming both say they're willing to stay, sign Drais for $14-15. Sign McDavid for $15-16 and be in cap hell for 8-9 years.
B. Assuming Drais will stay but McDavid is a ? Sign Drais $14-15M and risk McDavid walking the next year and be "stuck" with only Drais.
C. Assuming neither Drais or McDavid give a clear indiciation. Go for it again and let Drais walk for nothing, then give McDavid max the next year and "retool"?
D. Assuming both say they're leaving, trade them both now. Trade Drais this year and McDavid the next?

They're coming off Game 7 so captain obvious says go for it again, but holy hell will it be ugly if they lose for Drais for nothing and dont have a Cup to show for it.

 

[Canovin]

Bet he ends up with more Cups.

Make the playoffs first and then we will talk

 

[Soundwave]

Nobody has the cap room AND has a McDavid for him to play with and was in the most recent Finals on top of that.

Beyond that his finance is best friends with McDavid's fiance, so the whole group of them are joined at the hip at this point.

 

[L4br3cqu3]

Nobody has the cap room AND has a McDavid for him to play with and was in the most recent Finals on top of that.

Beyond that his finance is best friends with McDavid's fiance, so the whole group of them are joined at the hip at this point.

Re-read the thread title.

 

[RangerBoy]

San Jose

 

[BrindamoursNose]

The Flyers are going to try. They shouldn’t, but they will.

Philly absolutely should try.

This team needs a pulse.

 

[AvroArrow]

Montreal has everything needed to make this happen

Except a contending team, Drai wouldn't be going to a rebuilding team. Even though Boston signed Lindholm, I think he's a great fit there.