OILERS GO ALL-IN WITH DRAISAITL CONTRACT
Long-term deal signals that team is primed to take run at Stanley Cup for years to come
It was worth the wait for Leon Draisaitl.
Eight years at US$8.5 million a year has to be viewed as the upper and outer limits of what the Edmonton Oilers alternate superstar was going to get with Connor McDavid receiving US$12.5 million a year.
But he got it.
The Oilers got him.
And there was never really a doubt, even though a few fans insisted on getting themselves twisted into pretzels because Draisaitl didn’t get done the day after McDavid.
The Draisaitl deal was completed Wednesday morning (evening in Prague, where the young German forward has been spending most of his summer) and it was hard to find an Edmonton Oilers fan that wasn’t double delighted. Yes, even at US$8.5 million. If anything, the delay in getting Draisaitl done, I suspect, just prolonged the ecstasy of getting to the day of the deal.
Draisaitl, in his round of phone interviews that began at noon with rights holder 630 CHED, was adamant about his long-term desire to be an Oiler. The only question to most was whether Draisaitl might have to do a bridge deal if general manager Peter Chiarelli was going to balk at a number more than the US$7 million or so suggested by contracts of comparable players.
“For me there was never even a thought to go anywhere else or to think about going anywhere else,” Draisaitl said.
“You look at options, but for me personally, I just want to be with this group as long as possible. We have such a good group and I really do believe we have something special coming up in Edmonton,” added the NHL’s eighth-highest scorer last season with 77 points during the regular season.
He was also the Oilers’ top producer in the playoffs with 16 points.
The ecstasy is that the modern day dynamic duo equivalent of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier are both signed far enough into the future to take them through their prime years.
McDavid’s eight-year extension keeps him here for the next nine years. The captain has one year remaining on his entry-level deal. Draisaitl’s new deal kicks in this season. And there’s something to be said with both deals not ending at the same time. Bottom line?
The future is now!
That message was signed, sealed and delivered with the Draisaitl deal.
For the next eight years, it’s “reach for the top” time in the City of Champions.
The Oilers team that went to Game 7 of their second-round series against Anaheim has to see itself as a Stanley Cup contender for the next eight seasons.
“Last year we showed the hockey world that we’re no joke anymore,” said Draisaitl in his CHED interview.
“We have the right pieces in the right place and now it’s up to us. I’m just very excited to be an Oiler for the next eight years and I really do think we have something special and I hope Edmonton is as excited as we are.”
The hockey talk will now shift to debates about whether Draisaitl should play right wing on McDavid’s line or centre his own line.
I think coach Todd McLellan has already telegraphed that. Both.
But it will be interesting if it works out to be 50-50 or 60-40 one way or the other and where it ends up going once playoffs begin.
The big-picture focus going forward will be on the salary cap.
How much might it increase between this year and next when McDavid’s deal kicks in? After flattening out lately, will it return to going up on a steady climb like it has in the past to open up more room to pay the rest of the team’s players?
Meanwhile, as the Oilers prepare to go to camp, there will be extra interest in the young developing players who are going to have to find their way into the lineup to keep the salary figures down.
Chiarelli has plenty to keep him busy. But with McDavid signed for nine seasons and Draisaitl for eight and Cam Talbot in goal, Adam Larsson, Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse developing with “up” arrows on defence and all the forwards positioned around McDavid and Draisaitl who will be better playing with the two of them, fasten your seat belts for a fun run through to 2025.
Is there anywhere else on the hockey map you’d rather be?