In recent days it seems like every other story on the Edmonton Oilers concerns the contract status of its young stars. With Connor McDavid’s future resolved in emphatic fashion on Wednesday — 8 years, holy wow — that of his scoring sidekick Leon Draisaitl has become all the rage. Or should I say, $100 million, all the rage seems to be directed towards Leon Draisaitl.

I can’t tell you how many times recently I’ve heard variations of lines like these:

“Back up the truck for Connor, but if Leon wants a penny over $X.x million, Peter Chiarelli should trade his ass!”

(with X = a figure generally favourable to the team)

or

“If Draisaitl signs an offer sheet, we should just let him walk and use the draft choices to replace him!”

I’ll admit I’ve paraphrased the sentiments here for dramatic effect, perhaps, but suffice to say there’s been a surprising amount of vitriol for a young player who has done nothing more than seriously outperform his entry-level contract and whose camp is negotiating his next one. Clumsily, though who knows the true sources of various rumours of an ask approaching $10 million dollars annually or whispers of offer sheets or chitchat of trades. Here at the Cult of Hockey the subject has been thoroughly covered by my colleagues David Staples and Kurt Leavins so I won’t belabour the state of contract negotiations any further here other than to say I’m a little stunned at the level of antipathy towards the player in some corners. Especially this player.

Staples: Oilers insiders finally sound bullish on Draisaitl contract

Leavins: Let’s all get real on Leon Draisaitl

This post is instead aimed at reviewing the young man’s performance ON the ice, Yevgeni Kuznetsov, which has been good enough to warrant talk of a possible eight-year extension and comparisons to some fine young players like Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ryan Johansen. Except Draisaitl is younger still and joined the conversation faster than even those guys.

After being drafted third overall in 2014, it took Draisaitl a little while to find his way. His first half-season in the NHL was unproductive and he was sent back to junior, but was called up in late October and hasn’t missed a single game since, 167 in a row now including playoffs. In his first full(ish) campaign he was one of 97 NHLers to hit the 50-point threshold, where he starred. In Year Two he started out in the AHL, and was in fact the second youngest to do so (only Jack Eichel was younger). Then in Year Three he was one of just 10 NHLers to muster 75 points. Again he was the second youngest in the group; this only Connor McDavid was younger.

Top 10 is some pretty elite company to say the least,authentic Taylor Hall jersey, but let’s expand to include the top 20 NHL scorers from 2016-17. I’ve circled all those ages under 23.

Just five players under the age of 25 on the whole list. Nikita Kucherov and Mark Scheifele have since turned 24 and are both >30 months older than Draisaitl,adidas Ryan McDonagh jersey, while just McDavid and Bruins’ phenom David Pastrnak are younger.

The Oilers are going to replace that with draft picks? Yeah… no. Put me in the camp that would rather hang on to the successful draft choice who is already ripping up the pea patch. Or should I say, the two successful draft picks. A young tandem like that doesn’t come along very often,adidas Travis Hamonic jersey, even as they are clearly not equals; fact is that McDavid really has no equals. But he’s still going to need plenty of help and young Draisaitl seems ideally placed to deliver on that front. He’s also the perfect age to remain part of the McDavid Cluster for the foreseeable future.

a full discussion of Draisaitl’s remarkable 2016-17 season begins and ends in Europe where he twice represented Germany. First up was the Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga,For all that he did in North America, Latvia,authentic John Tavares jersey, where he led his team with 5 points in 3 games including a goal and assist in the 3-2 win over the hosts which clinched a berth for his country in Pyeongchang, where he played for Ralph Krueger’s Team Europe, scoring a couple of brilliant goals which helped the club surprise its way to the finals. From there an 82-game NHL season, a very big deal. From there it was straight on to Toronto for the World Cup of Hockey, 13 more in the playoffs, then right back on a plane to his home town of Cologne where he again represented Germany in the World Championships. 107 games in all, without one night off. In total he produced 102 points in all competitions.

Draisaitl had a quick start before enduring his only significant dry spell of the season. Through 16 GP he languished at 3-5-8,Focussing on the NHL portion of that, -6. From November 15 through the end of the season he was over a point-per-game player, connecting for 26-43-69, bouncing back from an illness that curtailed his effectiveness early in the San Jose series to lead the Oilers in goals, assists, +13 over the final 66 games. Come the playoffs he got hotter still, points and plus with 6-10-16, +8 over the course of 13 games. That too was enough to finish in the NHL’s top 10 playoff scorers as well despite playing just two rounds. Included were eruptions of 4 and 5 points against the Ducks, a team Leon tormented all season long.

The big man was terrific on the powerplay, where his 27 points tied McDavid for the team lead and lodged both in the league’s top ten in PP points. And he was better than that in overtime, and sent McDavid in alone for another. In the playoffs, it was his gorgeous touch pass which David Desharnais converted for Edmonton’s one post-season triumph in extra time, where he personally accounted for the game-winner in three of Edmonton’s six overtime wins, a massive Game Five win over the Sharks. As the season wore on he became ever more dominant in game-breaking situations.

questions all answered,So, right? Not so fast. Here’s a big one: is Draisaitl a centre or a winger? He came to Edmonton advertised as the big, talented pivot the team has lacked for so long; but he spent much of his third season playing right wing with Connor McDavid, winning 49% of his draws,adida Taylor Hall jersey,adidas Cory Schneider jersey, as coach Todd McLellan tried to shoehorn three centres on to his top two lines. He did emerge as the team’s most reliable left-shooting option in the faceoff circle, whereas both McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins languished below 44%.

More to the point,authentic Cory Schneider jersey,authentic Travis Hamonic jersey, has he shown that he can “drive his own line”? That question is a little more problematic, Leon played alongside Nail Yakupov. They played three hours together and posted decent possession numbers but got outscored 15-3. (!) In his second campaign he had Taylor Hall on his flank, given as Leon has played each of his first three NHL seasons with a former first-overall draft pick regularly on his line. In his half-season run as a rookie,authentic Ryan McDonagh jersey,adidas John Tavares jersey, and the Kingston Cannonball was largely credited in some corners for being the driver of play when things went well.

This past season Draisaitl had his best success playing with McDavid, and his WOWY (With Or Without You) splits were fairly extreme: in the eleven 5v5 hours when Draisaitl was paired with McDavid (and usually also Patrick Maroon) the Oilers had 54% of the shot attempts and nearly 60% of the goals, but is cause for pause all the same. In the playoffs Draisaitl performed splendidly regardless of which line he was on or what position he was playing, while in eight hours away from McDavid the German saw those same numbers plummet to 48% and 44% respectively. Most of that was early in the season, but that sample size was limited.

But such is the corner that the Oilers have painted themselves into with their long-term management of this player. They are now faced with a huge decision with something less than complete information, even as the player himself can point to outstanding results, but ultimately a good problem for the Oilers to have. It just needs to be resolved, preferably internally, especially for one so young. It’s a thorny problem, and the sooner the better.

The Oilers have signed a free agent! The Oilers have signed a free agent! The Cult of Hockey’s David Staples and Bruce McCurdy dig into the free agent signing of Jussi Jokinen, which has curiously united Oilers fans in glee, 34, something that almost never happens. They also dig into more promising news about Leon Draisaitl signing.