EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers issued a two-pronged salvo to the rest of the NHL on Tuesday when they announced the max-term extension of franchise cornerstone Leon Draisaitl.
The eight-year, $14 million AAV contract locks up their second-best player — a Hart, Ted Lindsay and Art Ross winner — until 2033. That alone should add more juice to their aging roster as they try to get one more playoff win than they did last season and claim the Stanley Cup before it’s too late.
Draisaitl not going anywhere anytime soon also means the same is almost assuredly the case for Connor McDavid as the Oilers captain enters the second to last year of his deal.
Neither Draisaitl nor GM Stan Bowman wanted to jump to any conclusions about how Tuesday’s extension will or could impact McDavid staying put past 2026. Draisaitl said McDavid will do what’s best for him and Bowman said the negotiations with McDavid and agent Judd Moldaver will be handled separately.
However, CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said earlier this summer that he’d sit down with Bowman, Draisaitl and McDavid to chart the organization’s future. Realistically, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which Draisaitl didn’t get a strong understanding of McDavid’s intentions before signing on. Not only are these two incredibly close friends, but they’re also the lynchpins of the Oilers.
Though things can change before July 1 — the earliest McDavid can sign an extension — Draisaitl re-upping is about as close to a guarantee that No. 97 will follow suit.
Put it all together and this is a banner day for the Oilers.
Before the salary cap, this was a franchise that was unable to keep superstar talents. That broke apart a 1980s dynasty and essentially made them a farm team for the decade and a half that followed.
Now Draisaitl’s staying around, and the odds are high McDavid will, too.
So, while there are aspects to be concerned about with Draisaitl’s whooper pact, the good far outweighs the bad.
Management is going all in trying to win with this core. Re-signing Draisaitl is about getting the most out of players already in their 30s like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm — who will enter the last season of his contract as Draisaitl’s begins. These players only have so many good years ahead of them.
The Oilers are the oldest team in the NHL with little draft capital and the 30th-ranked prospect pool, according to The Athletic’s Corey Pronman. They’re gradually trending toward Pittsburgh Penguins territory; it’s imperative that they win the Stanley Cup at least once before they reach that point.
Keeping Draisaitl around in this manner isn’t perfect, though. There’s no doubt about that.
His 41 goals last season were the fewest he scored on a prorated basis since 2017-18. Though hampered by injury in the playoffs, Draisaitl didn’t score a goal in his last nine playoff games while managing just five assists.
The contract begins a couple of weeks shy of his 30th birthday and ends when he’ll be 37. Unless the salary cap goes through the roof, the end of this deal will probably range between cumbersome and unsightly for the Oilers.
For as much as Draisaitl talked on Tuesday about loving playing in Edmonton and being unable to imagine himself wearing a different sweater, it’s not like he did the organization much of a favor to stay. Draisaitl will have a $14 million cap hit, which will make him the highest-paid player in the league next season. He got that for the maximum of eight years as well.
That’s not to criticize Draisaitl. He’s undoubtedly earned that contract as one of the best players in the sport for several seasons. His last contract, though not necessarily viewed as team-friendly when it was signed, quickly became a sweetheart deal for the Oilers.
This isn’t the case here. Though the cap is expected to increase steadily in the coming years — annually lessening the burden on the team’s budget — Draisaitl’s play probably won’t be commensurate to that of a $14 million player at some point.
Throw in the McDavid megadeal that’s almost certainly coming in the next 10-12 months and Evan Bouchard’s big extension that’s due next season and Oilers are about to join the teams with top-heavy rosters. It’ll be up to Bowman and Jackson to fill out the depth chart with young prospects or inexpensive veterans.
That’s a challenge for down the road, though.
There will be complications ahead for the Oilers, but Draisaitl’s commitment signals to the rest of the NHL that he and McDavid are off-limits.
And that’ll do nothing but help extend the team’s championship window even if it happens to only be by an extra year or two.
Forget about the end of Draisaitl’s contract or anything McDavid signs down the road. That’s all that matters here.
(Photo: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
