Nonsense floated about Draisaitl’s Edmonton Oilers’ future but also one sensible insider take

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There’s already been plenty of nonsense about the future of star centre Leon Draisaitl with the Edmonton Oilers. We can expect plenty more in coming weeks.

But to provide some welcome sanity, former NHL GM and Octagon player agency founder Brian Lawton spoke out on Oilers Now to Brenden Escott on Tuesday.

Draisaitl has one more year to go on his current contract. He’s eligible to sign a contract extension in Edmonton as of July 1, 2024. If he does not, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2025.

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“I thought a lot of things were misrepresented over the last few weeks in regards to Leon Draisaitl, potentially going to sign, not going to sign,” Lawton said. “I’ve read everything under the sun out there.”

Lawton said Draisaitl’s focus has been on winning a Stanley Cup.

“Every single team in this league would kill to have (him),” said Lawton. “Now it turns to his future. I don’t think any of that has been decided yet. I think he’s going to sit down with Mike Luit, his agents at Octagon, and he’s going to try to figure out, ‘Where do we go from here?’”

There will be no rush to decide, Lawton suggested. “I can assure you that Octagon hockey, that’s just not the way those guys do business. That’s not really in their DNA, especially with such a quick turn around (from Game 7 of the Final do July 1). I think it may be awhile until anything is known. I think Leon is very thorough. I know Octagon is.

“Obviously the Oilers would love to have him back. I don’t see really any world where he doesn’t come back and yet it’s certainly not my call, or anybody else’s in Edmonton, that’s ultimately going to be Leon Draisaitl and his advisor’s call as to what he does. But he’s been terrific for them. I love the fact that when it wasn’t going well (in the playoffs) — and this is when you find out a lot about a person’s character — they have the courage and the confidence to stand up and say it. They don’t run away with it. They deal with it head on.”

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As for the nonsense, right after Game 7 ended, media personality Mike Grinnell of Bar Stool Sports tweeted out, “Draisaitl to Boston #RumorBoys.”

This was evidently a troll job, though the Boston rumour has been percolating on social media for a few weeks.

At The Athletic, came an incendiary headline, “What I’m hearing about Leon Draisaitl and the offseason decision that could blow up the Oilers.”

The story by Toronto NHL insider Chris Johnston said, “Edmonton is not inclined to let the 28-year-old center simply play out the final year of his contract and walk directly into free agency next July, according to multiple league sources familiar with the front office’s view of the situation. With Connor McDavid eligible to sign an extension 12 months down the line and the Oilers eager to extend their championship window as long as possible, there is at least some concern about the potential for a “double whammy” in the event Draisaitl were retained for 2024-25 without a new contract in place. It could create a scenario where he leaves for nothing just as McDavid is set to chart his own future.”

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Two weeks ago NHL insider Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff predicted that the Edmonton Oilers will sign up Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard, paying $40 million per year for all, $16 million per year for McDavid, $14 million for Draisaitl and $10 million for Bouchard. Seravalli had a curiously specific description in his prediction: “That’s my projection. And if the Oilers are sitting in their office with (hockey boss) Jeff Jackson’s big board that he has up there, I think the numbers are really close to that. The cap is also going to be $100 million then.”

My take

1. Players are free to go wherever they want when they become free agents. If Leon Draisaitl decides one day that Edmonton isn’t for him, I’ll thank him for all he’s done as an Oiler and wish him the best in another city.

That said, I hope the outstanding centre decides to sign long-term. Being an Oilers fan, I hope he also decides to sign at a discount, thus enabling his team to better compete for the Stanley Cup in this salary cap-era of the NHL. Such a sacrifice to the team would be noted and appreciated by fans, but it’s not expected. It’s up to the player. Some NHLers, such as Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, have decided to go the hometown discount route and it’s helped their teams win. But, again, it’s not expected.

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2. There’s always been a plenty of nonsense about Draisaitl. Remember when some pushed hard for him to be traded for P.K. Subban? For Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Remember when some suggested his $8.5 million per year contract was going to be an anchor for the Oilers?

Such is the life of an NHLer in Edmonton.

They’ve got to learn to tune out the noise.  Don’t listen to sports radio. Don’t go on social media. Don’t read blog posts like this one. Tell all friends and family to never bring up what they see, read or hear. This should be standard media training in high interest markets.

I suspect Draisaitl has developed a talent for it. it’s the sensible way to thrive in a Canadian hockey mecca.

3. Yes, if Draisaitl decided to move on that would indeed “blow up” the Oilers as we know them, but isn’t it premature to speculate on that kind of calamity for the Oilers organization? What is the evidence there is any air of reality to such an eventuality?

The Athletic is an outstanding publication but I think they went too far with that headline.

4. I hope Seravalli’s prediction is correct, as well as Lawton’s statement that he can’t see a world where Draisaitl doesn’t sign here. I have an increasingly hard time seeing such as world as well, given how well players are treated in Edmonton, given the excellence of Edmonton’s hockey facilities, given that Edmonton can pay as much as any other team for Draisaitl, given that Edmonton is in a great position to win the Stanley Cup in coming years, and given that Draisaitl has strong friendships with Connor McDavid and others Oilers, as he made clear in the interview below.

But as Lawton made clear, and I accept as a hockey fan in 2024, it’s Drai’s call, and good luck to him with it, wherever it leads him. He’s given his all as an Oiler. I hope that continues. if not, that’s Draisaitl’s business, not my business.

How do you see it?

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P.S. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports, “I believe there’s a role for Ken Holland moving forward in Edmonton…IF he wants it. His situation will be clarified within a few days. As of right now indications are that he will not be at the Draft in Vegas.”

Ken Holland did a helluva job as GM for the Oilers. Bringing in Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm, Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown and Evander Kane are at the top of that list, along with drafting Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. The two top draft picks finally stepped up big-time in the playoffs.

Holland made some mistakes, such as the pricey Zack Kassian contract and possibly a major overpay on Darnell Nurse, not to mention the Jack Campbell contract. But he got more right than wrong.

In any case, the Oilers now have a new hockey boss in Jeff Jackson. Perhaps Holland will stay on to work longer with Jackson. But the succession plan on the Oilers has been running full speed since Jackson signed up last fall.

The team appears to be in good hands between Jackson and owner Daryl Katz, the visionary of the downtown arena and Ice District, and an owner known to have earned the admiration of his Oilers players for his unyielding support.

At the Cult of Hockey

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