Player Discussion Leon Draisaitl's next contract

[Canovin]

Call me crazy but if Drai walks, the list of UFAs that year is:

Crosby
Marner
Tavares
Rantanen
Hedman
Giroux
Ekblad
Saros
Theodore
Chrychrun
Ehlers
The list is too long, but you know what I mean

It's not really the end of the world if we use 15M on a combination of those players

 

[Da McBomb]

Call me crazy but if Drai walks, the list of UFAs that year is:

Crosby
Marner
Tavares
Rantanen
Hedman
Giroux
Ekblad
Saros
Theodore
Chrychrun
Ehlers
The list is too long, but you know what I mean

It's not really the end of the world if we use 15M on a combination of those players

quite the list...

you can use this list the other way around as well.. with all of these high salary players becoming UFA that year, alot of these teams will be shedding alot of salary and may have the room then to spend it on Draisaitl.

 

[alanschu]

Haha getting Sid would be interesting.

 

[Spawn]

Call me crazy but if Drai walks, the list of UFAs that year is:

Crosby
Marner
Tavares
Rantanen
Hedman
Giroux
Ekblad
Saros
Theodore
Chrychrun
Ehlers
The list is too long, but you know what I mean

It's not really the end of the world if we use 15M on a combination of those players

18 months out of any UFA period is going to look pretty good. A lot of those guys will end up re-signed long before free agency hits.

 

[McWeber]

Call me crazy but if Drai walks, the list of UFAs that year is:

Crosby
Marner
Tavares
Rantanen
Hedman
Giroux
Ekblad
Saros
Theodore
Chrychrun
Ehlers
The list is too long, but you know what I mean

It's not really the end of the world if we use 15M on a combination of those players

I think it would behoove to he Oilers to sign Drai as soon as he's eligible if he's willing even at an overpay. After Marner bends Toronto over the market is going to be grossly inflated on Leon.

 

[Canovin]

18 months out of any UFA period is going to look pretty good. A lot of those guys will end up re-signed long before free agency hits.

McDavid to Crosby: Come to the Oilers for some practice before the Olympics

 

[North Cole]

In my opinion, opening the bank to two players doesn’t make for a winning team.

This is not an unreasonable take.

The issue it presents is that you then have two options:
1) you negotiate drai down to some number via hardball and hope that he takes it, or he walks for nothing.
2) you accept you can't meet his terms and move him for something.

The first option is basically catastrophic to the current team. McDavid will almost certainly walk. The second option you might get some roster players back and hope that satisfies McDavid. However, you're hoping some of the worst collected front office in existence can get some kind of fair value for Drai.

I don't really see how either of those choices and outcomes make a winning team either. So in that case I'd just run back the known quantity of MCdrai at 30M and try to figure out the rest. If you don't have a winning team either way, might as well start with 2 top 5 players and experiment with the rest of the patchwork than start with a patchwork and try to find superstars.

 

[tiger_80]

He sounded like wants to move on when his contract expires. Imho, it's possible he gets traded in the off-season. It may be a good time to move him while he is still perceived as being in his prime. Will start declining fairly soon, imho.

 

[Connor McConnor]

He sounded like wants to move on when his contract expires. Imho, it's possible he gets traded in the off-season. It may be a good time to move him while he is still perceived as being in his prime. Will start declining fairly soon, imho.

I took his words that way too. Sounded like him and McDavid might have already decided they are going to go their separate ways. Might explain Drai's lackluster season as well. Lot's of pressure on this season.

 

[Sanderson]

He sounded like wants to move on when his contract expires. Imho, it's possible he gets traded in the off-season. It may be a good time to move him while he is still perceived as being in his prime. Will start declining fairly soon, imho.

I don't see anything in his comments that suggests this. If anthing, it sounds like he hasn't even given the decision much of a thought yet. He knows it will come up in the summer, and that it will be a big decision, and thus something to be discussed with quite a few people. That, alongside his other comment, suggests to me that this is something he will contemplate in the off-season, not right now.

If he had already spoken to McDavid about it, he wouldn't have said that he is sure that there will be some comversations with him (McDavid) about it.

 

[brentashton]

He sounded like wants to move on when his contract expires. Imho, it's possible he gets traded in the off-season. It may be a good time to move him while he is still perceived as being in his prime. Will start declining fairly soon, imho.

I sense the same. Nothing factual, just a sense.

May have been the way the interview was structured but didn’t hear any words like “i love being here, love this franchise and city, group, I want to win a championship here”. That’s also posturing for a negotiating position too, not gonna show your hand. But I didn’t see this in the article. very clinical.

It may have been Spectors approach and editorial slant to frame it this way and ask questions in a way that stays away from the “feeling” statements.

 

[Sra1974]

Why are leafs fans trolling on the oilers board...?

pathetic

That question sort of answers itself in my opinion.

 

[Canovin]

This is just my opinion and nothing more. There was a video of Draisaitl showcasing his crib a few years back. The vibe I got from him is Edmonton doesn't offer him much other than a paycheck and the Oilers. I remember him saying something along the lines, there isn't much to do in Edmonton and he doesn't know what to do in Edmonton on his free time. I hope over the years that perspective changed. I perfectly get it if he decides to walk. He gave us many good years.

 

[K1984]

This is not an unreasonable take.

The issue it presents is that you then have two options:
1) you negotiate drai down to some number via hardball and hope that he takes it, or he walks for nothing.
2) you accept you can't meet his terms and move him for something.

The first option is basically catastrophic to the current team. McDavid will almost certainly walk. The second option you might get some roster players back and hope that satisfies McDavid. However, you're hoping some of the worst collected front office in existence can get some kind of fair value for Drai.

I don't really see how either of those choices and outcomes make a winning team either. So in that case I'd just run back the known quantity of MCdrai at 30M and try to figure out the rest. If you don't have a winning team either way, might as well start with 2 top 5 players and experiment with the rest of the patchwork than start with a patchwork and try to find superstars.

Another thing too - the cap is probably going to be in the ballpark of $100M 5-6 years from now. $28M between two guys isn't really that bad in that context.

COVID f***ed us out of getting extreme value out of the McDavid and Leon deals during their prime. $12.5M for McDavid never really turned into an ultra value contract because the cap was flat for half of it.

 

[barry halls]

Good debate about this on the latest Got Yer Back pod. Rishaug thinks it's notable that often other high profile FAs (like Nylander most recently) have been open about their love for their current team and their desire to stay long-term, and it did not hurt their negotiations at all. There's none of that coming from Leon in this interview and it sounds like he's leaning towards testing the market.

This leads to a big question: do you enter next season without an extension and hope for the best, or trade him for a huge haul this summer?

 

[Duke74]

The way Draisaitl's been playing this season, maybe moving on from him isn't the worst idea. Most players, in their contract year, play out of their minds. Draisaitl has been the opposite, whether from lack of effort or declining ability, I don't know. If it's declining ability, then I don't think the Oilers want anything to do with a $13M/year contract for the next 7-8 years. I can only imagine what he would look like towards the end of that contract and it's far from pretty. That would make the Lucic and Campbell contracts look like a dream.

He sounded like wants to move on when his contract expires. Imho, it's possible he gets traded in the off-season. It may be a good time to move him while he is still perceived as being in his prime.

Spector doing his usual manipulative journalism. That being said, I'm beginning to consider the latter. If this current season is any indication, I'd say his prime is starting to pull away in the rearview mirror.

 

[TheNumber4]

Give them both blank cheques and just hope and pray. That’s the extent to which I’ll be discussing these contracts (i hope), speculation and arguing how much they are worth is going to be years long frustration.

Oilers fans would be better served putting energy into showing them love. Make sure they know this fanbase loves them, avoid any criticism of these studs, and try to make it fun here to play as much as we can. I don’t think we do enough on this front… only when Hart season comes around we pull out the MVP chants, we should do stuff like that way more often.

 

[Da McBomb]

Well.. good thing the boys are on a winning streak and feeling good right now... because when they get home from Montreal Sunday morning... it's going to be -40 something and they just might question why the hell they're playing here.. Draisaitl included lol.

 

[bucks_oil]

Good debate about this on the latest Got Yer Back pod. Rishaug thinks it's notable that often other high profile FAs (like Nylander most recently) have been open about their love for their current team and their desire to stay long-term, and it did not hurt their negotiations at all. There's none of that coming from Leon in this interview and it sounds like he's leaning towards testing the market.

This leads to a big question: do you enter next season without an extension and hope for the best, or trade him for a huge haul this summer?

It's not even a question. If you can't sign him this summer you move him for a haul and use his $8.5M (and planned raise) to fit in the pieces that give McD a chance at a cup next year.

Something like Drai out for UFA Hellybucyk/Saros in + 3-4 high end ELCs/1sts acquired via Drai trade would set you up to not skip (much of) a beat.

It's not ideal and I'd rather him stay, but you cannot manage an asset this valuable based on hope alone. If he's not signing this summer, he's not signing.

 

[Da McBomb]

If he is not signed by next season, you ask him for a list of teams he would be happy to extend with... then negotiate with those teams and let them talk to Draisaitl about a new contract. The return you get for an extended Draisaitl would be much more than a return for one year of Draisaitl.

 

[Sra1974]

I am so hesitant to read too much into Dra And this interview. We have all seen his body language at times and his interactions with reporters. He holds back at times and this could be part of it.

Is there risk one or both leave? If you are in Edmonton right now just look outside, of course he’s thinking about it. What fixes all of that - the belief they can win at least one cup here. If that belief isn’t there why would they stay?? We are going to look for all sorts of signs but it’s going to come to that in my opinion.

 

[Satire]

Interview was interesting for sure, although I wouldn't expect Drai to say much more. I found him being very honest. There's a lot of factors that go into this decision outside of money. I believe his longtime girlfriend for an example is an actress. That's all hard stuff.

Whatever he chooses I'll continue cheering for him. I hope he stays, but you only get one life and you have to do what's right for you. These are human beings we're talking about here.

 

[Soundwave]

I don't see any realistic scenario where McDavid stays without Draisaitl, unless the player you are bringing back for Draisaitl is like Matthews or Bedard, which isn't going to happen.

So it isn't just about Leon, it's about a lot more than that.

This team needs to be dead serious about wanting to win now, and not just in words. That means building a real goaltending tandem and d-corps that can accomplish the task of winning a Cup, not telling Connor and Leon "well you have to win with like a d-corp and goalies like 1/2 as good as your opponents". They're not going to stay if that's the reality here and then you can ask yourself how much your stupid draft picks that you refused to trade actually are worth when you can't find another player anywhere near as good as either one of them for the next 30+ years.

 

[Canovin]

I don't see any realistic scenario where McDavid stays without Draisaitl, unless the player you are bringing back for Draisaitl is like Matthews or Bedard, which isn't going to happen.

So it isn't just about Leon, it's about a lot more than that.

Depends if McDavid wants a statue in front of Rogers Place and a freeway named after him.

Maybe not Matthews or Bedard but a combination of Saros, Stamkos, Giroux and a bunch of 1st round picks on ELCs to help sooth the pain

 

[Soundwave]

Depends if McDavid wants a statue in front of Rogers Place and a freeway named after him.

Maybe not Matthews or Bedard but a combination of Saros, Stamkos, Giroux and a bunch of 1st round picks on ELCs to help sooth the pain

Stamkos is near the end of his prime, Giroux is washed up. McDavid isn't going to stay for that crap.

He can have a statue built anywhere. The biggest appeal the Oilers have is that they have another top 10 player in Draisaitl for him to play with. You take that off the board and forget about it.

You can't lose Draisaitl. If you lose him, you lose McDavid.