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Matthew Henriques' Vlog: Evaluating Leon Draisaitl's Contract

Leon’s locked up. After several months of questioning why the process is taking so long. After several months of positing an idea of an offer sheet. After Connor McDavid was signed to an eight-year, $100 million contract that won’t come into effect until the 2018/19 season, Leon Draisaitl has signed an eight year, 68 million dollar contract. Imagine being 21 years old and signing a contract that pays you $68 million for the next eight years?

In the video below: I break down the following:

  • What does this mean for the Oilers and Draisaitl?
  • Did the Oilers sign Draisaitl to an appropriate cap hit?
  • How would Draisaitl play without McDavid and Maroon?
  • Is he capable of effectively centering his own line?

Draisaitl’s pay day is JUST $22 million shy of McDavid’s contract signed just a month ago. When the 2018/19 season commences, Draisaitl and McDavid will be paid a total of $21 million. It’ll be the same amount as what the Blackhawks have to pay Toews and Kane. However, the combined $21 million that the Blackhawks are paying for is in the form of the third contract for both Toews and Kane, while Draisaitl and McDavid are signing a combined $21M for just their second. In just eight years, McDavid and Draisaitl will command a larger sum.

McDavid and Draisaitl are undoubtedly two extremely important pieces for the Oilers. Just imagine how much better they’d be if they still had Eberle and Hall. Yes, there are cap constraints with their contracts, especially with the fact that Leon and Connor needed new contracts this summer. But Eberle would’ve been fine playing on the second line with Draisaitl, who he had a 56.14% Corsi For, compared to the 50.89% with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and 53.10% without him.

Eberle would’ve been great playing alongside, but Anton Slepyshev could be a decent fit on the second line with Draisaitl. That leaves for Ryan Strome slotting on the right wing, playing with McDavid on the first line, and RNH centering the third line. In terms of where Puljujarvi plays, it might be best for him to play with RNH and Drake Caggiula.

But as I mentioned in the video, do you think that Draisaitl could score 60-70 points in 2017/18 as a center?

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