Player Discussion Leon Draisaitl '18-19 Season

[MaxR11]

Because of every one of Drais pts all year will come from McD. yup...

Its 6 games folks. Its ironic, perhaps, that I'm the one saying that as I have my own penchant for panic.

drai has largely been cr@9 without mcdavid for the last 2 years save for a good playoff run. it's not just 6 games. 8.5 mil means you need to at least play better even if the points don't come. drai has look very below avg on his own line.

not sure how you get so attached to some players. like gagner, whom you loved, was garbage and i though it was obvious he was not a good player even in his highest point producing season here.... i'm just not sure what you see in some of these players. this is the problem with just looking at stats. eyeball test will always win out.

ps. obviously drai is far better than gags but he needs to get his head out his a$$.

 

[McIce Whole]

drai has largely been cr@9 without mcdavid for the last 2 years save for a good playoff run. it's not just 6 games. 8.5 mil means you need to at least play better even if the points don't come. drai has look very below avg on his own line.

not sure how you get so attached to some players. like gagner, whom you loved, was garbage and i though it was obvious he was not a good player even in his highest point producing season here.... i'm just not sure what you see in some of these players. this is the problem with just looking at stats. eyeball test will always win out.

ps. obviously drai is far better than gags but he needs to get his head out his a$$.

Although I may not agree with his assessments at time, I do feel it looks like he’s trying to hard to protect Drai because everyone shits on him for every little mistake he makes.

I personally agree that Drai needs to step up, he needs to consistently be our second best player and one of the best players on the ice. He has shown it before too but we’re only 6 games into the season, lots of star players are off to slow starts.

Outside of the first game, I felt that Drai has been average. Again, needs to be better but some of the hate he gets is kind of ridiculous. Kucherov has Stamkos, Hedman etc. makes 9.5 mill and got off to a slow start. It happens, need to let him play through it. When Drai goes beast mode, he’s unstoppable.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Then get a GM that can build a proper team around said player. And don't tell me they had no options to do so.

They could have any one of Barzal, Hall, Connor, Boeser, DeBrincat, or Tkachuk next to Leon today. Every single one was available to the Oilers, they chose out of their own free will to go in a different direction multiple times.

And how many of them thrive under this coaching staff?

 

[Soundwave]

sure, drai is a great complimentary player to connor, that's awesome. but you don't get paid 8.5 mil to be that. 8.5 mil means you can drive your own line or at least LOOk like you're capable of it. drai does not, at this point look like he can. if he was playing well and driving things and consistently creating, making smart plays, play hard defensively etc etc i could easily overlook the lack of production away from connor and blame the wingers.... but drai's play is very underwhelming especially for 8.5 mil.

8 million is the new 6 million. When RNH and Eberle signed their deals for 6 per that was 9.5% of the cap roughly. So about 10%, today, 10% of your cap is $8 million, throw in a $500k Chia tax and there you go. "Line driving" players are going to get $10+ million from now on like Tavares.

This team did have a line driving player that could've driven a second line ... they traded him away.

Those players are rare, that's why you don't do stupid things like that, you work with those players instead.

You can't seriously not see the irony here of you now complaining the 2nd line doesn't have a line driver. I mean what did you think was going to happen?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

How come RNH only has 1 extra point over Leon despite getting to play basically 3x the time with McDavid?

It is beyond laughable that you are pointing to RNH as being anything other than good so far this season. Old habits die hard. Maybe if he played 3 on 3 OT with McDavid he'd have a few more points too.

 

[McShogun99]

By the time the season is over Draisaitl will be in the same point range as Tavares, Kane, Seguin and Eichel while making a few million less then each of them. We will all still complain about his contract regardless.

 

[Soundwave]

It is beyond laughable that you are pointing to RNH as being anything other than good so far this season. Old habits die hard. Maybe if he played 3 on 3 OT with McDavid he'd have a few more points too.

Leon would have 8 or 9 points if he was on Connor's wing and you'd be saying he's playing great too, right?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

This team did have a line driving player that could've driven a second line ... they traded him away.

Do tell! This is the first that I've ever heard of it! Maybe if you say it another 500,000 times it will magically reverse the trade or you can talk about something other than that for a change.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Leon would have 8 or 9 points if he was on Connor's wing and you'd be saying he's playing great too, right?

Sure thing.

 

[Soundwave]

Do tell! This is the first that I've ever heard of it! Maybe if you say it another 500,000 times it will magically reverse the trade or you can talk about something other than that for a change.

If poster's are going to rip on Leon for being put in a position to fail directly because of mismanagement like that it's more than fair game to point it out. They had the exact winger already that they needed for Draisaitl, and past that then had about 4 chances in the 2015 and 16 drafts and they blew every single opportunity and now Leon is the one who's gonna get crapped on.

Gimme a break.

It's completely unfair and it's the 4th or 5th time this franchise has done this to a good player in recent history.

Paying a player any salary doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to build a competent roster.

 

[AM]

No it's not. No amount of salary absolves the manager from his responsibility of building a reasonably talented team around the player.

Like I said above, they had every opportunity to have any one of the following 2nd lines

Hall Draisaitl - Chose Lucic/Larsson instead
Draisaitl Barzal - Chose Reinhart instead
Tkachuk Draisaitl - Chose Puljujarvi instead
DeBrincat Draisaitl - Chose Benson instead
Draisaitl Boeser - Chose Reinhart instead
Draisaitl Kyle Connor - Chose Reinhart instead

Every single one of those scenarios gives them a great 2nd line with good scoring from Leon.

They chose every single time to go in a different direction. That's not Leon's fault. Don't tell me they didn't have options here.

? I could care less what happened in the past and I could care less about blaming a guy who isnt playing the game.

The responsibility for the on ice performance is the players. And Drias has been under performing.

Im pretty sure I could put a cone on the ice and Drai could skate to it every time.

Its not the GM's fault that the player wants to skate to the up ice side of the cone every time. Its the players fault that he chooses to do that.

 

[harpoon]

Then he probably shouldn't be making $8.5M.

We know he shouldn’t be making 8.5. There’s no ‘probably’ about it. Thanks for that then Peter.

 

[AM]

ya that's my point... drai is nowhere near earning his pay and was overrated.

I dont think Drai is over rated. I think he deserved his contract.


He just has to start continuing to deserve it.

 

[Soundwave]

? I could care less what happened in the past and I could care less about blaming a guy who isnt playing the game.

The responsibility for the on ice performance is the players. And Drias has been under performing.

Im pretty sure I could put a cone on the ice and Drai could skate to it every time.

Its not the GM's fault that the player wants to skate to the up ice side of the cone every time. Its the players fault that he chooses to do that.

It doesn't matter if you couldn't care less or not. The reality is it has an impact.

Some of this board seem to have this fantasy in their mind that a trade or a bad draft is like a loss. You lose, and then go "well boys, lets move on to tomorrow" as if it's a game. This isn't a f***ing game you just "shrug off".

That's not how this works. The truth is the fall out from bad trades or bad drafts takes often times *YEARS* to manifest fully. This is not about the "past". This about bad decisions coming now to haunt this franchise in the here and now.

Leon does not have a responsibility to "carry" a poorly built roster by Chiarelli because Chiarelli has made 10 major errors as a GM. That's not Leon's responsibility, very few players can just take two mediocre wingers and turn them into a viable scoring line in this league.

You can kick, stomp, yell at Leon all you want to "produce more! Earn it!" just like people did to Hall, Schultz, Dubnyk. It's not going to change the fact that they're put in a position to fail by poor management decisions.

 

[AM]

It doesn't matter if you couldn't care less or not. The reality is it has an impact.

Some of this board seem to have this fantasy in their mind that a trade or a bad draft is like a loss. You lose, and then go "well boys, lets move on to tomorrow" as if it's a game. This isn't a ****ing game.

That's not how this works. The truth is the fall out from bad trades or bad drafts takes often times *YEARS* to manifest fully. This is not about the "past". This about bad decisions coming now to haunt this franchise in the here and now.

Leon does not have a responsibility to "carry" a poorly built roster by Chiarelli because Chiarelli has made 10 major errors as a GM. That's not Leon's responsibility, very few players can just take two mediocre wingers and turn them into a viable scoring line in this league.

You can kick, stomp, yell at Leon all you want to "produce more! Earn it!" just like people did to Hall, Schultz, Dubnyk. It's not going to change the fact that they're put in a position to fail by poor management decisions.

Athletes need to avoid having baggage. Baggage negatively impacts performance.
(just saying)

As for yelling or stomping at Drai. The actual correct procedure would be to tell him to produce less.

He needs t simplify his game and start out scoring.

He also needs to forget about his contract and just play.

 

[Soundwave]

Athletes need to avoid having baggage. Baggage negatively impacts performance.
(just saying)

As for yelling or stomping at Drai. The actual correct procedure would be to tell him to produce less.

He needs t simplify his game and start out scoring.

He also needs to forget about his contract and just play.

Go give me a list of players that can "score" with two mediocre other players (bonus marks for mediocre + slow) and I'll show you a list of players that are all going to be paid $10-11+ million on their next contract.

And GMs need to know how to build a roster.

 

[Little Fury]

Go give me a list of players that can "score" with two mediocre other players (bonus marks for mediocre + slow) and I'll show you a list of players that are all going to be paid $10-11+ million on their next contract.

At this point I'll settle for "not getting completely destroyed." That'd be progress.

 

[Soundwave]

At this point I'll settle for "not getting completely destroyed." That'd be progress.

Then demand a better GM. Otherwise this is what you get.

 

[MaxR11]

It wasn't Hoffmans wife anyway. This has been corroborated by multiple sources. it wasn't her accounts that were making the online comments. The Karlssons were wrong. False accusations. So not only was Hoffman available the alleged baggage turned out to be bogus. Both of them will love being in a new place though. I wonder how long before something negative happens in SJ. I'd give it a year or two. Karlsson isn't the rock solid team guy people think.

actually agree with this. i do think unfortunately karlsson is likely a bit of a do*** and actually didn't want him to come here. teams don't stay cohesive for long when you have a bit of a problem player as one of your better players as we've seen here.

 

[Soundwave]

actually agree with this. i do think unfortunately karlsson is likely a bit of a do*** and actually didn't want him to come here. teams don't stay cohesive for long when you have a bit of a problem player as one of your better players as we've seen here.

Funny how they magically got to one game away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

[MaxR11]

Although I may not agree with his assessments at time, I do feel it looks like he’s trying to hard to protect Drai because everyone ****s on him for every little mistake he makes.

I personally agree that Drai needs to step up, he needs to consistently be our second best player and one of the best players on the ice. He has shown it before too but we’re only 6 games into the season, lots of star players are off to slow starts.

Outside of the first game, I felt that Drai has been average. Again, needs to be better but some of the hate he gets is kind of ridiculous. Kucherov has Stamkos, Hedman etc. makes 9.5 mill and got off to a slow start. It happens, need to let him play through it. When Drai goes beast mode, he’s unstoppable.

honestly i try to give it some time before i start to get critical with players. i've seen the same game from drai away from connor to see he has been far too underwhelming when not with connor. when people talk about "slow starts" they look at points. i look at how he's playing on the ice and i see a lazy player who cheats and doesn't give much of a cr@9 on defence and simple effort level and body language is poor. not only does he look physically lazy out there he looks mentally lazy as well. like i said, i would be more than willing to give him a pass if i saw some effort level and smarter play etc out there even if he wasn't producing points. when teammates see one of your better players (like drai) up their effort level and mental commitment etc it raises their games as well. i almost feel like as kind of a leader on the team he's letting the younger guys down with his apathy.

 

[MaxR11]

Funny how they magically got to one game away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

like i said, long term it doesn't last when you got someone like that around.

 

[Soundwave]

like i said, long term it doesn't last when you got someone like that around.

And made the playoffs like five times.

 

[MaxR11]

I dont think Drai is over rated. I think he deserved his contract.


He just has to start continuing to deserve it.

i hope he's not overrated but he's shown me in his time in the nhl that he's a very up and down player with not much consistency and potential issues with his mental game and effort. he may never be a great player year in year out but more one of those guys thta CAN have great years but also some very unimpressive years.

 

[MaxR11]

And made the playoffs like five times.

awesome... playoff cannon fodder for the weak east teams. impressive.