Last week, the Edmonton Oilers handed out the expected massive contract to center Leon Draisaitl. I’m a little late to the party on this topic, but of course the Oilers signed the big man during the one week where I was away on vacation all summer long.
Anyway, the deal really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. Draisaitl is a huge part of this organization’s young core and there was no way they were going to allow him to sign an offer sheet elsewhere or trade him. I also believe, and this is pure speculation on my part, that the Oilers wanted to keep the player happy and did not want to risk souring the relationship with a bridge deal.
This is an extremely steep contract and it without a doubt will complicate things for the Oilers moving forward. The club will be paying Connor McDavid and Draisaitl over $20 million on the cap per season, an amount only the Chicago Blackhawks know the pain of.
While constructing a Stanley Cup winner will not be impossible with these contracts on the books, Leon making $8.5 million per year tightens things up and makes the task that much more difficult. Peter Chiarelli will need to be extremely smart and picky when it comes to his supporting cast, and good drafting is absolutely imperative at this point.
Now, I don’t want it to sound like I think the Oilers made a mistake here. The fact of the matter is, while it’s a big contract and sets up potential cap problems, the Oilers really didn’t have much of a choice here with either deal. Connor McDavid may already be the best player in the NHL and he deserved to be paid like it.
Draisaitl is also one of the best young players in the NHL today and proved his worth this past season and especially in the playoffs against Anaheim. For a big center that can score you 70 points a year and dominate your biggest rivals, $8.5 million is quite a fair sum of money.
Personally, I think $8.5 million is too steep and that the Oilers overpaid for Draisaitl. That said, my line in the sand was $8 million per year so I’m not going to nitpick this much. If you need to pay an extra $500,000 per season to keep a player like Leon here for the next eight years, then you do it. It’s more than I wanted, but it’s not a crazy amount and I don’t really have a problem with the slight overpay.
Questions To Answer:
Now, why would I say that this deal could be a slight overpay? The fact of the matter is we still have a lot of questions to ask regarding Leon Draisaitl. Sure, he pushed the river on his own line during the playoff series with Anaheim, but he has yet to prove that he can consistently run his own line.
In 2015-16, Draisaitl’s big numbers came when he played with noted driver Taylor Hall. In 2016-17, a majority of his offense came when playing with McDavid. The Oilers could regret this if Draisaitl is more Marian Hossa than Evgeni Malkin.
If Draisaitl can prove that he is in fact capable of running his own line, then this contract could end up being a bargain for the club three or four years down the road when Leon is fully developed and in his prime. It’s possible that he is in fact more Malkin than Hossa.
If I were a betting man, I’d bet on Leon Draisaitl filling that role and more than earning this contract. He’s got the skills and the drive to continue growing as a player. In fact, in each of his first three seasons with the club, Leon has shown steady improvement.
Where To Play Him:
I think most Oiler fans would tell you that you have to line Draisaitl up on the right wing with Connor McDavid on opening night to try and rekindle last season’s magic. I suspect that Todd McLellan agrees to some degree, and that we will see Leon lineup in that spot plenty of times this year.
I do think, however, that Draisaitl will see a heavier workload at center this year. Ideally, I think the Oilers would like to have two scoring lines with dynamic players on them. Draisaitl playing center allows Edmonton to have that and makes them a much tougher team to defend against.
If I were coach, I’d start Draisaitl at center and play him there for the majority of the season. I suspect Todd McLellan uses him a bunch at both center and right wing this season.
Final Thoughts:
The Oilers needed to lock Leon Draisaitl up for the long haul and they did just that last week. The contract is a little steeper than I first anticipated, but it isn’t a crazy enough sum to warrant any kind of concern or criticism.
Yes, there are questions with this player, but overall I believe that Leon has earned the benefit of the doubt. I believe that he is good enough to drive his own line and that he will live up to this contract.
It’s risky anytime you hand a player a deal like this, but I believe it is a good risk. Leon Draisaitl has done nothing to suggest to me that betting on him is a bad idea.
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