Confirmed with Link: Draisaitl re-signs 8y 8.5M AAV

[kurtcobang]

I dont know what people who dont like this deal were expecting?
The point is the money isnt yours and we now have McDavid for 9 years and Drai for 8
Its up to Chia to build a team around these two. Whoever gets thrown overboard to make these contracts fit under the cap is a small price to pay for having these two players play there prime years for us. Why would Drai take a penny less than what the market dictates he is worth? I wouldnt and to expect that from him is unreasonable imo.
This is a good day friends, despite what the haters complain about. The dark days are over!

 

[JarvisFunk]

He's also arguably worse than Ryan Johansen.

I would love to see that argument.

 

[McAsuno]

At least I don't have to hear any more Eklund 2.0 BS from that Joshua Marshall guy on twitter regarding Draisaitl.

 

[SK13]

Better to sit guys or let them walk

Better to wait them out and sign them to value deals like Gaudreau or bridge deals like Kucherov than prematurely hand largely unproven players large sums of money and hope it all pans out.

Some of you are entirely too sure that Draisaitl is a sure thing. He almost definitely would not have cracked 60 points this year if not for the best offensive player of a generation centering him.

 

[Faelko]

He's got to be a 70+ point center AWAY from McDavid or this will be an awful contract.

I don't know if he can do it based on evidence so far. But I would love to be wrong.

Agreed on the #2C, he needs to drive his own line now, we have to give other teams something else to focus on.

I think he'll get to 70 points based on him playing #1 PP min, need a decent RW for him, hope one of Slepyshev, Strome, Rattie, Puljuarvi can get it done.

 

[dem]

Absurdly expensive, imo.

But ok..

I would have waited until training camp and tried to squeeze him.

 

[McDNicks17]

Beautiful!

 

[JarvisFunk]

Absurdly expensive, imo.

But ok..

I would have waited until training camp and tried to squeeze him.

Thats a great way to build a strong relationship with a player.

 

[SK13]

I would love to see that argument.

Draisaitl has 1 77 point season as the FAR lesser player on his line; Ryan Johansen has 4 straight 60+ point seasons as the best forward on his team?

Trade places and who outscores whom? I'm not even sure you could argue Draisaitl was the better player in this playoff season because Johansen was excellent until he was injured.

 

[Jejune]

We'll see I guess. I don't love the contract as I think he's in for some regression next year to 60 - 65 points, at which point people won't be very happy.

To me, it all depends on what the cap does over the next couple seasons. If it goes up to 81+ within a couple years I think we'll be ok.

 

[KarmaPolice]

There's another way, and Tampa Bay did it with Nikita Kucherov.

Yeah, I honestly would've preferred a bridge deal for say 2 years. Even if he would've had really great years, I doubt he would've produced enough to get more than 8.5m per on a contract after that; though it would be possible, just doubtful, IMO. But in the end I'm just happy that Leon is signed for 8 more seasons -- and Connor too, of course. Those two should rip up the league.

And hey, we could've drafted Sam Bennett instead. Yuck. Or even Reinhart, for that matter, had Buffalo took someone else and he dropped to us and we took him. I think I'll take Drai, even if he is overpaid (not saying he is, but it's arguable), than Sammy boy at any price. Having two young studs like McDavid and Drai is a good problem to have.

 

[JarvisFunk]

Draisaitl has 1 77 point season as the FAR lesser player on his line; Ryan Johansen has 4 straight 60+ point seasons as the best forward on his team?

Trade places and who outscores whom? I'm not even sure you could argue Draisaitl was the better player in this playoff season because Johansen was excellent until he was injured.

So literally the argument boils down to Johnasen being in the league longer, but still HAS NOT eclipsed Drais best season. In Drais shortened season he still scored 51

Johnasen has not scored more than 16 goals the last two seasons

 

[McAsuno]

Yeah, I honestly would've preferred a bridge deal for say 2 years. Even if he would've had really great years, I doubt he would've produced enough to get more than 8.5m per on a contract after that; though it would be possible, just doubtful, IMO. But in the end I'm just happy that Leon is signed for 8 more seasons -- and Connor too, of course. Those two should rip up the league.

And hey, we could've drafted Sam Bennett instead. Yuck. Or even Reinhart, for that matter. I think I'll take Drai, even if he is overpaid (not saying he is, but it's arguable), than Sammy boy at any price. Having two young studs like McDavid and Drai is a good problem to have.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Better to wait them out and sign them to value deals like Gaudreau or bridge deals like Kucherov than prematurely hand largely unproven players large sums of money and hope it all pans out.

Some of you are entirely too sure that Draisaitl is a sure thing. He almost definitely would not have cracked 60 points this year if not for the best offensive player of a generation centering him.

Kucherov fired his agent after signing that contract. When this contract ends Yzerman will have to deal with a player that much closer to UFA who feels like they're owed money because they were playing on a cheap contract.

We've seen numerous times in Edmonton how that plays out.

 

[LaGu]

Thanks. I'm certain he will because the way I see it is that I "expect him" to get better as a hockey player, however if he just stayed at the level of last season going forward for 8 years, he'd still be worth the price tag.

I'll second Fourier's post.

I never thought he'd come in over $7.5M.

I bet he lives up to the money and makes me look even more like a fool before the season ends.

 

[dustrock]

RyJo was buying more UFA years. Draisaitl is coming off ELC.

There is no way this isn't an overpay for his age/experience level.

But if the NHL is correcting to skilled players actually being paid what they're worth, and we see old vets/grinder salaries decreasing, that makes sense to me.

I don't think there is any other way you can argue that the Anaheim series just cost the Oilers $1m/year.

They obviously think Playoff Drai is the real deal. Let's hope he lives up to that.

I don't like the number, but if he can drive his own line and produce, it will be worth it.

What I will say is that Draisaitl has responded to every challenge at every level, so hopefully it all works out.

 

[NedPlimpton]

I'm good with this. I feel he'll be worth it for those 8 years.

We all knew it was going to happen this way anyway.

 

[Spawn]

Chiarelli once again demonstrating he's worth **** all when it comes to negotiating the big deals.

This is a bad contract with zero comparables for Draisaitl's camp to argue he's worth this amount. Pisses me off to no end that the GM down the highway dealing with the exact same agent with a player with essentially identical stats was able to lock up their player for under 7 million.

We better hope the cap increases big time over the next couple of years. Once McDavid's deal kicks in we are going to be an absolute world of hurt.

But hey... remember when people were arguing that wasting a year of Draisaitl's ELC didn't matter because we were saving a year on his RFA eligibility? lol

 

[McDavyCrockett]

He is clearly overpaid by a million.

That said, his production last year over the regular season + playoffs coupled with the contract Johansen got basically set the benchmark at 8 million, unfortunately.

 

[dustrock]

So literally the argument boils down to Johnasen being in the league longer

The argument boils down to Johansen having an established track record of 60+ points per season, yes.

Drai has no track record, but Getzlaf was playing probably the best hockey of his career and Draisaitl matched him.

 

[Paralyzer]

This is what I gathered. Let's ***** about 0.5-1M difference because his production last year isn't worth that. You guys are unbelievable...So all the work Draiaitl did in the post-season, leading his OWN line, and being our top producer means **** all? And is there no such thing as growth in a player at the age of 21? I should have just ignored this thread.

 

[SK13]

So literally the argument boils down to Johnasen being in the league longer

The argument boils down to Johansen being a proven commodity who has been the driver for his teams for several years. They're paying for what they know.

The risk/reward on Draisaitl is all messed up. WAY more risk than reward.

 

[McAsuno]

With Pastrnak still needing to be signed, I hope his camp looks at Drai's contract and they end up screwing the bruins over.

 

[Consultant]

Thats a great way to build a strong relationship with a player.

Seriously this all goes back to Pronger, this club is so afraid of their players wanting out of town that they just smile and hand out the money. Now that we have McD and the new building we could actually negotiate at least a little...

 

[KarmaPolice]

It's best not to try and think of it.