The Edmonton Oilers and Leon Draisaitl will be the biggest storylines this offseason besides free agency. Draisaitl is eligible to sign an extension with the Oilers on July 1.
The Oilers ended heartbreakingly with a loss in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. His contract negotiations are the furthest thing from his mind. But for the first time on Wednesday, he expressed his love for playing for the Edmonton Oilers.
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“It’s going to take a little time to figure out what I want, what the Oilers want, what everyone wants and go from there,” Draisaitl said to the media on Wednesday. “I love being an Oiler more than anything.”
As Jeff Jackson takes over duties with Ken Holland not coming back to the Edmonton Oilers, the priority is to lock up Leon Draisaitl. With the salary cap expected to go up, the Oilers will have money to play with.
Let’s be honest: The COVID cap hurt a lot of teams and what they wanted to do. But by the time Draisaitl’s new extension kicks in, if he were to extend with the Oilers, the salary cap will be in the low $90 million range. Of course, Connor McDavid will need a new deal as well, and when his new deal kicks in, the salary cap could be around $100 million.
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But sticking with Draisaitl, the question now is what he could be making on his next deal.
TSNs Ryan Rishaug and TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button tackle that very question.
Ryan Rishaug: “Okay, there’s two elements to this. Will he sign and what does it look like dollar wise and then what if he’s not willing to sign an extension? Let’s deal with these one at a time because they’re both big. I think the number Craig’s is $14 (million) minimum. Probably beyond that. And you know, I’ve, look I’ve got spreadsheets. I’ve been thinking if Leon has been thinking about this, I have been for a couple of years now I’ve run a bunch of numbers like can the owners is a competitive team with Leon Draisaitl at $14 and a half million and McDavid in at $16 (million) say on his extension or even more. I believe they can it would be tough but you have to take the orders are willing to basically open up the checkbook and figure out a way to make this work.”
Craig Button: “So now I get to show off my math. Good. Like we’re gonna play a little bit math equation here. cap goes up to $88 million next year, the year after, I’ll call it $94.
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Rishaug: “That would be the first year of his new deal.”
Button: “Then the year after $100 million, which is McDavid’s first year.”
Rishaug: “That would be the first year of his.”
Button: “You’re telling me $14 (million) and $16 for Connor McDavid.”
Rishaug: “14 and a half. $16 and a half.”
Button: “Okay, good. Okay, that’s no problem. $30 million. That’s $69 million to work to get a team built around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.”
Rishaug: “$10 (million) or so for Evan Bouchard.”
Button: “Sign me up sign me up. Like it’s doable. Yeah, is it easy? No, it isn’t. But that’s the job of management. Like if everything was just handed to you on a platter and was easy to do everybody would do it. But when you were talking about Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together at those numbers, knowing that the cap is going up significantly. It is the growth in the game is really tremendous. And it might be even much higher than that. So that’s where it’s going to be. And that very well could be part of the calculation for Leon Draisaitl and his group.
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What’s it going to look like? You know, am I going to leave money on the table? And certainly, I think there’s another part to this right, and you just watch it unfold the course of this year. This is a team that’s very close now and it’s a team. It’s a good team. And yes, could they get back and compete for the Stanley Cup next year? No question they can based on what they showed this year. So now what do you do?
Because you can say that maybe he’s not going to sign we’ve seen other players David Pastrnak did this. He waited until well into the last months before he signed his extension as a potential unrestricted free agent. That was a record setting here for the Boston Bruins. They found a way to get it done. This is a good Edmonton Oilers team. I don’t think this is just about if he does not sign. I think you have to wait it out.”
It will be interesting to see where these discussions go. Leon Draisaitl has given the hockey world something to talk about this summer.