2014 Draft - 3rd OV: Leon Draisaitl

[Perfect_Drug]

The only thing poor was his first couple of steps.

He had a 4/5 on skating for a reason.

I think everyone who watched the games, quickly saw he had amazing straight-line speed, but everyone was shocked when he beat Hall in the fastest skater contest before being sent back to Junior.

But I'm not going to pretend like we're changing history here.

A lot of us simply saw limited sample sizes of Drai pre-draft and read all the reports calling him "slow" and we all stuck to it.


I was a Bennett fanboy, and my eyes rolled when we draft Drai. But man am I ever happy to be wrong.

 

[Soundwave]

You can be sour at Mac T all you want, but him getting this pick right was franchise altering.

 

[PBandJ]

It's been forever but didn't he have like 30 more points than anyone on his extremely crappy team? Predraft he dragged his team into the playoffs ala Halls Hart season in New Jersey.

He was absolutely a massive part of Prince Albert making the playoffs.

His disappearance in the playoffs was also a massive part of Prince Albert getting roflstomped in the first round. He wasn't so tough anymore when he ran into a team that wasn't afraid of him and could push back.

And then he came to the NHL and was hilariously overmatched and overwhelmed.

He's worked his ass off and all credit to him, he's become the second most valuable player for this franchise. But this wasnt a guarantee. There was a lot of reason for doubt.

 

[Panda Bear]

Joe Thornton was a hart winning, art ross winning player. Draisaitl isn't going to be that. Even if he reaches his top potential.

so @oilers'72 liked two of my posts on the same page as this comment

so I did some scrolling

then I saw this and did a huge lol. doesn't matter that spawn owned up to this ages ago. still lol

 

[Staghorn]

Somewhere in this thread I trash Drai's play, commitment , skating, development, potential and future... needless to say my posts on him X years ago have not aged well... I can eat crow on this now, as he has become an incredible MVP caliber player....

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Somewhere in this thread I trash Drai's play, commitment , skating, development, potential and future... needless to say my posts on him X years ago have not aged well... I can eat crow on this now, as he has become an incredible MVP caliber player....

I mean the concerns, for the most part, were relatively reasonable, but even the biggest booster of Leon didn't see him becoming damn near an All-Timer lol

It's a credit to how incredible of a player Leon Draisaitl really is.

Edit: One more, THANK YOU Mac-T for NOT trading Drasaitl for Justin Faulk.

 

[Fourier]

Somewhere in this thread I trash Drai's play, commitment , skating, development, potential and future... needless to say my posts on him X years ago have not aged well... I can eat crow on this now, as he has become an incredible MVP caliber player....

Thankfully I have never been wrong on any player prediction.

Actually, this one I got "almost" right. He was #2 in the draft for me. Today I would not even consider trading him for Ekblad.

 

[Canovin]

Thankfully I have never been wrong on any player prediction.

Actually, this one I got "almost" right. He was #2 in the draft for me. Today I would not even consider trading him for Ekblad.

I take it you had Bennett as #1?

 

[Fourier]

I take it you had Bennett as #1?

You know, I actually liked Bennett, having watched him a fair bit in Kingston. (I went to a lot of Canadian/Fronts games when I lived there in the 80's so I still follow the team somewhat). I had him at #4 behind Reinhart. He's finally become very much the player I expected he would be.

My interest in Draisaitl was from watching him on the German National team with Rieder. Rieder was one of my favourite prospects. I loved watching him with Murphy on the pk. I thought Rieder would be a solid NHL'er.

 

[Zaddy]

I mean the concerns, for the most part, were relatively reasonable, but even the biggest booster of Leon didn't see him becoming damn near an All-Timer lol

It's a credit to how incredible of a player Leon Draisaitl really is.

Edit: One more, THANK YOU Mac-T for NOT trading Drasaitl for Justin Faulk.

I was a huge Draisaitl fan and never would I have believed that he would become the player he is today. Absolutely incredible. I do think McDavid has helped him a lot. Leon is a competitive guy and having Connor on his team forced him to step up and be even better than he otherwise would've been.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

 

[oilers'72]

so @oilers'72 liked two of my posts on the same page as this comment

so I did some scrolling

then I saw this and did a huge lol. doesn't matter that spawn owned up to this ages ago. still lol

I'm only on page 2, so there's plenty of likes and facepalms.

IIRC, the big reason I wanted Drai was that he went through the combine and show what he could do for the scouts. Bennett could only do pull-ups and got mocked for it.

Drai also got moved from PA to Kelowna because the Raiders were going nowhere that season (some say that the Oil pushed for that trade).

 

[Spawn]

so @oilers'72 liked two of my posts on the same page as this comment

so I did some scrolling

then I saw this and did a huge lol. doesn't matter that spawn owned up to this ages ago. still lol

Yeah I've owned up to that take ages ago.

Even with hindsight I don't think it was that bad of a take lol. No one thought he would be this good. Not even Oiler fans who were all over taking him. If at the time of his draft people thought he reasonably projected to be this good, he would have been a stone cold mortal lock to go #1 overall. I stand by that statement. His development path somewhere around year 5 post draft just went into orbit and never came back down.

What a player he's turned into.

 

[Czechboy]

Yeah I've owned up to that take ages ago.

Even with hindsight I don't think it was that bad of a take lol. No one thought he would be this good. Not even Oiler fans who were all over taking him. If at the time of his draft people thought he reasonably projected to be this good, he would have been a stone cold mortal lock to go #1 overall. I stand by that statement. His development path somewhere around year 5 post draft just went into orbit and never came back down.

What a player he's turned into.

The crazy thing to me... he wasn't regarded as an elite shooter when drafted. Now, he could very well be the best shooter in the world. Pretty amazing transition.

 

[OiledUp]

As I've stated before I really like Leon and I'm very happy he's an Oiler. A lot being said about his size but what intrigues me is his vision and ability to make plays in the middle of a dangle if you get what I
mean. Also like how he takes the puck to the middle of the ice to make plays. Plus his name is awesome.

Pretty happy with my take now 7+ years later.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

The crazy thing to me... he wasn't regarded as an elite shooter when drafted. Now, he could very well be the best shooter in the world. Pretty amazing transition.

Definitely didn't see him being able to shoot the puck and score like he does now.

 

[48g90a138pts]

Never forget.

If the Oilers lose their final game of the 2013-14 season and end up 2nd last, they win the lottery. The no brainer choice would be to pick Ekblad, Buffalo still picks Reinhart.

Now do the Panthers choose Draisaitl or Bennett?

So, Leon could have been a Panther or...











































A Flame



Thank you 2013-14 Oilers for winning that final game of the season. Love all of you for getting us Draisaitl.

 

[CupofOil]

I am beyond thrilled with this pick, people think that he was drafted just because he's big but he is a highly skilled player who adds a lot of what we don't have on this team. I am so happy that management took him.

Preach it Bryan. Preach it!!! Couldn't agree more.

With that said, nobody saw THIS coming. He is turning into the German Gretzky, pretty much literally.
I see that people were getting on @Spawn for saying that he'll never be as good as Thornton and Spawn was right, he's not "as good", he's better.

 

[McShogun99]

LD was who I wanted over Bennett but it does suck that Cakgary got him next pick. Bennett was pretty much the #1 ranked player until the pull up fiasco. Calgary probably got the best player in the draft but I don't think Bennett would have excelled on the Oilers.

Feels good to be wrong.

 

[GOilers88]

What a great read this thread was

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

credit to the org (MacT?--cant remember) for sending him down.

the OBC did learn something from the decade of darkness.

More credit to Leon for actually learning to be a dominant player and carrying it on...

 

[Jumptheshark]

My hand goes up for getting this pick wrong

 

[Juxta Position]

i don't post alot on here, but around the 2014 draft time was probably when i posted the most,. I live in prince albert and watched draisaitl with the raiders for 2 1/2 years and was absolutely adament that the oilers take him if they got the chance. i hadn't seen a PA Raider that dominant on that team since Mike Modano (shows how old i am ugghhh) the raw talent he had as a 16 and 17 year old in the WHL was extremely evident. his only drawback i saw at the time was his speed moving laterally, he was still fairly fast in a straight line in junior but didn't possess the shiftiness, for lack of better a word that's needed to truely be a top notch skater in the NHL. but as we all know know his work ethic and drive to be one of the best players in the world forced him to work on that weakness and make it a strength.

i had many an argument on the main board in favor of draisaitl over bennett, and am so glad that i was right, moreso for the oilers sake than my personal pride.

well, since everyone is giving themselves a pat on the back this thread...guess i'll join the party

 

[Jumptheshark]

well, since everyone is giving themselves a pat on the back this thread...guess i'll join the party

But they need to quote their original post. A few people have they stated it but didn't post it.

 

[JayE]

It's an interesting note that he didn't grow up watching the NHL at all. He plays a pretty unique game - I'd compare it to the way a few Czech players have played, namely Jagr, but also Peter Stastny to a point (his dad was born in Czechia, so maybe that's why). A lot of the ways he buys time and senses passes has more in common with football (soccer) than it does with the way hockey is usually played (also reminds me of Datsyuk in this sense). One of the more unique players in the NHL.