This is what gets me. If he leaves for a smaller hockey market, I can't blame him. People say that fans don't run players out of town, but you have to think this kind of garbage gets in players' heads. Especially with the ubiquity of social media - you can't escape people's "opinions."
Meh this stuff is overrated, first of all understand that message boards like this are a tiny part of "social media", message boards are for old farts (like me), the younger generation doesn't use these types of forums. Message boards are an outdated part of the internet.
Second of all, Draisaitl gets a heap of praise the other way too, last year when he was scoring a ton of goals in the playoffs Leafs fans were tearing into Matthews saying "why can't he score like Draisaitl does in the playoffs?".
Leon can go somewhere else, but I will say this, life without McDavid may not be anywhere near as great as he may think it would be if that's his thought process.
There is no other team really that can offer him the money he would get here including a 8th year plus the guarantee of playing with the best player in the sport.
My personal feeling is he will resign and take the security of a big money 8 year deal, but it will come with a stipulation that if McDavid leaves, Leon will also ask for a trade out and given a full NMC, the Oilers will have to trade him to exactly where he wants (could possibly go where ever McDavid goes).