NHL Tonight: Derek Van Diest on Leon Draisaitl’s contract situation with the Edmonton Oilers this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
Mike Luft: “Now, on the topic of Leon Draisaitl, Stan Bowman with this, and we get the whole quote extension talks with Leon Draisaitl.
“I had a good conversation (with Draisaitl’s agent Mike Liut) and we’re starting things off and the timing on that will be what it will be.
I don’t have an update of where it’s going to be or the timing on that, but there is nothing negative to report, certainly.”
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Derek Van Diest joining us to talk about this. Getting close to Leon Draisaitl, we admire these guys from afar, but then seeing what he did in the Playoffs when he was less than 100%, absolutely dazzling. I know there’s a lot of sentiment along those same lines. What else did Bowman have to say about Draisaitl?
Van Diest: “Well, he basically said that he wants Leon Draisaitl to be an Oiler for life, and that, that’s his goal coming in here. That’s his goal for his negotiations. He wants Leon Draisaitl to stay a member of the Edmonton Oilers.
He’s going into the final year of his contract right now, and so negotiation are ongoing. Stan Bowman was just hired a couple weeks ago by the Edmonton Oilers, and his job is to speak with Mike Liut, is to speak with Draisaitl’s representatives and try and get a contract extension beyond this season, and then he’s going to have to do it all over again with Connor McDavid next season.
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But he had admitted to me, we had a great conversation , I’m here at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, where the next generation of young players are showcasing themselves. And we had a great conversation , and he said to me, ‘Listen, if we want to keep this window open, this championship window open for Edmonton, those two guys have to be a part of it. Those two guys have to be pillars of it.’
Kind of like (Jonathan) Toews and (Patrick) Kane were when he was in Chicago. So that’s what he has to do. He knows that in order for the Oilers to compete for the Stanley Cup on a yearly basis, those two guys have to be a big part of it.
And it starts with signing Leon Draisaitl and I think they want to get this done before the season starts. I think they don’t want this to linger throughout the season. He doesn’t want to do questions about. He doesn’t want to get asked every time he does a media availability, what’s going on with Leon Draisaitl.
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So they, both sides, would like to get this done sooner than later. Then they can just focus on hockey because the Oilers did load up this summer looking to make another run at the Stanley Cup.”
