Buyers Remorse: Leon Draisaittl

[Cup or Bust]

The Oilers are running 3 lines with McDavid, Hopkins, and Draisaitl. He is basically the Oilers 3rd line center at the moment. I have to think that will not be a permanent arrangement, there is not enough ice or talent to allow all 3 centers to excel at the level they should. They may have no choice but to put him back on the wing simply to give him more ice time and better ice time with more skilled players that a top 6 player needs to excel. As much as I like Hopkins it might be in the teams best interests to trade him to improve skill on the wing and allow Draisaitl to take on the 2nd line center role on a permanent basis, although the team as a whole has been playing better under this current arrangement.

 

[DearDiary]

If that's what he's on pace for right now, then that's definitely the player he will be throughout his entire contract........

This is why you give young players bridge contracts such as $4 million x 3 years

Then if Draisaitl proves he can actually carry a line on his own as a center while putting up 80+ points through 3 seasons... that is when you give him $8.5 million x 8 years

 

[Freudian]

Seems a bit unfair to Draisaitl. He just did what most smart players do. Used a good season to maximize his leverage in contract talks.

If the cap goes to $80M+, it's not going to be crippling for Oilers.

 

[Coffey]

Just like Eichel, when you pay that much for that long, you aren't generally getting your moneys worth at the start, you pay so you get a good deal in the mid of the deal and definitely at the end of it.

But that ruins peoples narratives, especially for the Oiler hater that made the thread.

 

[oXo Cube]

The big problem with this contract isn't that he is overpaid necessarily, it's that he should have been underpaid. God knows the Oilers could have used that.

If you just wait another 4 weeks Draisaitl goes into training camp without a contract and you probably get him to cave to the Pastrnak deal.

 

[yababy]

Yeah locking up the 20 year old Hart Trophy and Art Ross winning captain fresh off a 100pt season and the 6’2 215lb 21 year old who scored 77pts in 82 games and absolutely dominated in the playoffs centering his own line is a real head scratcher.

Why on earth would they want to sign those guys to max term deals? You’re right...this is completely comparable to Horcoff and Pisani.

Surely something fishy is afoot involving the owner.

The head scratcher isn't locking them up, it's how much damn money it took.
comparables to Draisaitl in Scheifele 6.125, Pastrnak 6.66, etc.
And is a cap era, you can't pay a player 12.5M. As entertaining as McDavid is, he is not the whole team (as we can obviously see this year).

 

[yababy]

Ryan Johansen got $64M/8-years this summer and has 19 points (3 goals) in 28 games on a far better team. Where's his thread?

that thread will start when Nashville is one of the worst teams in the league. Don't hold your breath

 

[ThatGuy22]

It's a weird contract, because long term it will be fine and not crippling.

But it's also a bad contract because there was zero precedence for it, so they way overpaid, with a player that had zero leverage. Not even Arbitration eligible.

 

[Atas2000]

Both contracts ar bad. McDavid's and Drai's. The Oilers must now push hard for the Cap to rise significantly. Otherwise those were overpayments, in Drai's case by quite a margin. Could have signed him to a Lucic kind of deal easily.

 

[oXo Cube]

McDavid is not overpaid lol.

You people are crazy.

 

[Sniper99]

Nobody has ever once said he’s the worst player in the league. Without looking it up though, and admittedly without using any context that may favour Leon, is he the “AINEC” worst 8.5 miller around?

Not yet. The way this site works, by the end of the week they will.

 

[member 147413]

When the deal was signed and as of now, it’s looking like a poor deal. You can’t credit his one solid season and playoff run as enough to pay him that kind of money, when he showed so poorly in his first season and had a solid but not 8.5mil player in his second season.

To be fair, you also can’t say it’s a shit contract after this 1/3 of a season.

I will say I wasn’t a fan of the deal and still don’t like it. Good for Draisaitl and his agent.

 

[Del Preston]

Ryan Johansen's 2nd contract was a 3 x $4 million bridge. Similar to what Draisaitl should have gotten.

This thread is deserved after everyone had to hear all offseason how Draisaitl was a "top-10 #1C" despite never actually playing as a top-line C. The future Crosby/Malkin 1-2 punch was mentioned. In reality Draisaitl is an excellent RW for McDavid who got overpaid at 21 (something that should never happen due to RFA structure).

Ryan Johansen didn't finish top-10 in scoring and have an incredible playoffs in the last year of his ELC. There was no way Draisaitl was getting anywhere close to a cheap bridge contract.

Lots of people (not just Oilers fans) were calling McDavid-Draisaitl the next great one-two punch down the middle. I'm not saying they are right but it's been 28 games with unusually low PP production. Give it time.

Was Draisaitl's playoffs really dominant? 9/16 points came in 2 games against Anaheim. He was held scoreless in 6/13 games played as well.

edit-held scoreless in 6/13*

He was incredibly sick for the first four games of the San Jose series, so much so that he was kept away from the team and missed practices. Look at what he did from Game 5 SJ through Game 7 ANA. Not just points but his overall game. He was dominate.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Who cares about signing bonuses. Fans are only concerned about the cap hit.

News flash, rookie bonus’ count against the cap, i wouldn’t expect you to understand that though

 

[joe dirte]

He just turned 22 and it's only his 2nd full season at center. How many centers can score much more than 60 points with really good wingers especially at that age? McDavid? Crosby?

So you've determined that he's a 6M player based on 28 games in which he's still on a 65 point pace playing with 3rd liners? If that's not classic HF, I don't know what is.

no. I've determined that he's a 6m player based on his whole career. I've already said that. 6m is quite generous too when you factor in RFA status. 8.5 mil night be more than he'd get on the open market as UFA.

Players who scored more than 60 points last year at the draft year or younger as Draisaitl, not including McDavid
David Pastrnak
Auston Matthews
Nikolaj Ehlers
Patrik Laine
Viktor Arvidsson
William Nylander
Mitch Marner
Players same draft year or younger with more points this year
most of the same players, but also
Brock Boeser
Mikko Rantanen
Brayden Point
Matthew Barzal
Patrik Laine
Clayton Keller
Dylan Larkin
Alex DeBrincat
Kevin Fiala
I have a hard time looking at these lists (which, AGAIN, is not just 28 games), and saying he deserves to be played elite player type money. you look at that second list and it gets really bad because he's produced even worse without mcdavid THIS year.

He hasn't shown it yet. Not even close. He's sucking on McDavid's teets right now.

 

[joe dirte]

Lots of people (not just Oilers fans) were calling McDavid-Draisaitl the next great one-two punch down the middle. It's been 28 games with unusually low PP production and.

I think you're very mistaken here. If you go back to to threads on this signing you'll find a LOT of skeptics.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Oilers got taken the cleaners on this one and I predicted it to a T. McDavid got Drais a nice paycheck in his contract year, at the same time crippling the Oilers depth for the next 8 years.

But what could the Oilers have done differently? They were trapped.

 

[Coffey]

Oilers got taken the cleaners on this one and I predicted it to a T. McDavid got Drais a nice paycheck in his contract year, at the same time crippling the Oilers depth for the next 8 years.

But what could the Oilers have done differently? They were trapped.

All because MacT wanted to play him over 9 games in his draft year. Fucccccccccccccccccc

 

[6ix]

brutal contract that could of been avoided if chiarelli negotiated his deal before mcdavids. absolutely mind boggling he did mcdavids deal first.

 

[Del Preston]

I think you're very mistaken here. If you go back to to threads on this signing you'll find a LOT of skeptics.

You will find lots of people from the both sides. It's not one or the other.

 

[C77]

Never change HF. Always need to build someone up just to tear him down the second he doesn't meet expectations.

Draisaitl is a hell of a player that any team would love to have. Maybe he is a bit overpaid, but we will see how much the salary cap increases and how he produces over the length of his contract.

This pile on the Oilers is embarrassing and mostly intellectually dishonest.

 

[FlameChampion]

As an Oilers fan hes been a bit dissapointing. Hes put up pretty good numbers despite no pp points. More dissapointing for me because he simply hasnt dominated consistently, centering on his own line.

The contract doesnt look good today but its only been like 30 games. I am not too worried.

 

[The List Of Jericho]

Ryan Johansen got $64M/8-years this summer and has 19 points (3 goals) in 28 games on a far better team. Where's his thread?


Did you miss the rest of my post?


This 28-game sample size has proven you right for the next eight years. Congrats.

It isn't the 28 sample size when he simply wasn't very good before McDavid got there, check the stats lol

 

[Del Preston]

It isn't the 28 sample size when he simply wasn't very good before McDavid got there, check the stats lol

51 points as a 20-year-old centre (and on a team with one offensively-capable defenseman) is very good.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Hes sitting around doing nothing because he knows Mcdavid is going from 900k to 12.5 mil ..

Talbot Maroon Nurse are all due raises.

Drai will quickly become a whipping boy especially in a Canadian market if he is only a 50-60point player a year.

Your agenda-boner is showing.

for a fan of a team that is absolutely nothing without Gaudreau, maybe worry less about Edmonton's depth and more about Calgary's.