The Edmonton Oilers are more than just a Connor McDavid team. They also have Leon Draisaitl, a player they have to make a huge decision on soon.
Draisaitl, who inked a $68 million extension contract with Edmonton back in 2017, has one more year left beyond the 2023-24 NHL season on his current contract that pays him $8.5 million annually. Given how great he's been for the Oilers, he should be earning more, and that is definitely his mission on the negotiation table.
Draisaitl is eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1, 2024, but he doesn't have to put ink on paper right away once the Oilers make him an offer. He can still ask for more money than what Edmonton will initially put on the table. Draisaitl knows how valuable he is to the Oilers and is certainly aware of the huge numbers he's put up for the team that selected him in the first round (third pick overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.
Are the Oilers in danger of losing Leon Draisaitl in 2025?
Draisaitl not signing an extension right away for the Oilers is what TSN NHL insider Darren Dreger believes will likely happen. At the same time, Dreger thinks that Draisaitl eating up as big as 16 percent of the Oilers' salary pie for his next contract still makes sense for Edmonton, considering the body of work Draisaitl has put together and the huge value that he should be able to continue bringing for the team on the ice.
“I think of when Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews extended back in the day with the Chicago Blackhawks – those mammoth $10-million per year deals – if memory serves those were 14% of the team's salary cap,” Dregger said during a recent appearance on TSN 1050 Overdrive (h/t Caleb Kerney of The Hockey News).
“Start doing the math on $87 [to] $90+ million and what the percentage looks like for Leon Draisaitl. If he wants, 14, 15, 16 % of the salary cap – those are big big beefy numbers. Is he worth that? He is to me.”
At the moment, Draisaitl's salary makes up 10.2 percent of the Oilers' salary cap. McDavid, who has a cap hit of $12.5 million is using up 15 percent of Edmonton's cap space. (McDavid's present deal will not expire until the end of the 2025-26 season.)
But it can't be denied that Draisaitl and McDavid deserve to be paid that much money, as they have been fantastic in their respective roles on the team.
What's missing for the Oilers with those two spearheading the team's attack is a Stanley Cup title, though, they have made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons and should return to the postseason again this year with Edmonton winning 42 of its first 69 games.
Leon Draisaitl has been an outstanding asset for the Oilers
Since entering the league in the 2014-15 NHL season, Draisaitl has managed to rack up a total of 343 goals and 493 assists across 707 games.
He also has a good chance of securing his third consecutive 100-point season as he currently has 92 to his name so far in the 2023-24 NHL regular season. With still 13 games left to play, Draisaitl should be able to add more to his current totals.
His most productive season to date was his 2022-23 NHL campaign during which he amassed 128 points on 52 goals and 76 assists across 80 games played.
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