Boeser has a .88 ppg average in his first year, and Draisaitl was .24 his first year and .74 on his career. We have a center in Horvat, and if we're looking into the future, Pettersson, both of our future potentially better guys are on ELCs, and Horvat is our defensive rock.
They're all young, but one player is already outscoring Drai's pace, you said one has the potential to do better, and none of our guys are making 8.5 per season.
Draisaitl is not > all of them. Horvat, stats wise, is not as good Draisaitl. But not taking second tier defensive match ups would probably hurt Drai in Vancouver, as we have literally no other centers if Horvat we the other way.
Ignoring Draisaitls rookie season which he was not ready for from day one (Like Horvat and Boeser) his career ppg is 0.85. That is over 3 seasons or 232 games, and more indicative.
While Horvat is superior defensively, Draisaitl can hold his own and will put up 20-30 more points than him.
Boeser is impressive of course, I am personally a huge fan of his, but he has to prove he can maintain this scoring. Yakupov was a great rookie, as was Sam Gagner (just saying). If he can put up the same near ppg numbers I could see an argument for him being better then Draisaitl. As of right now I think its safe to day Leon is the better player.
Petterson is an exciting prospect for sure, hopefully he pans out for you guys.
In regards to the 8.5 million... Boeser will be there soon and if Petterson pans out he will too. Just a matter of each players career timeline.
As of right now I would think
Draisaitl > Boeser >= Petterson > Horvat
All very close
I know a bunch of Nucks fans have Petterson over Boeser but lets wait until he produces at the NHL first.