Draisaitl honoured to end NHL season as top points scorer
GERMANY’S Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers only realised he would end the NHL regular season as the top points scorer when he received a flood of congratulatory text messages.
He had watched a video message from North American ice hockey chief Gary Bettman, who announced that the regular season, suspended on March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, would not be completed and instead the postseason would be expanded from 16 to 24 teams.
Then as his phone kept buzzing, it dawned on him that he would be lifting the Art Ross Trophy for the player with the most goals and assists in the regular season. “This is a great honour for me and also something very special. But of course it wouldn’t have been possible without my teamates,” Draisaitl told DPA.
He is now officially one of the most successful German athletes in US sport. Basketball player Dirk Nowitzki became NBA champion, American footballer Sebastian Vollmer won the Super Bowl alongside superstar Tom Brady - but there has never been a top points scorer from Germany in one of the major US sports leagues before.
The Cologne native delivered 110 scorer points for the Oilers, and only failed to tally in 15 of 71 games.
Draisaitl is now a contender for the season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award but said he was “not too worried about that.” Instead his eyes are on the biggest prize in the NHL, if his Oilers team can navigate the play-offs and if the sport is allowed back amid the pandemic.