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Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl is looking to sign an eight-year deal with the club, insider Bob Stauffer speculates. The Edmonton Journal quoted Stauffer as follows:
“It’s going to be a seven or eight-year deal.”
The Journal reported Stauffer’s words from a recent appearance on the Oilers Now radio program. During the show, Stauffer speculated that the Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid, could sign deals similar to the ones Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Interestingly enough, new Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman was the man in charge of signing Kane and Toews over a decade ago.
Stauffer said:
“It’s probably going to be an eight-year deal realistically. The reality is that for the Edmonton Oilers organization, for the success of the Edmonton Oilers, the two biggest things they need to do in the next two years is get extensions done with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid."
"And that’s not lost on Stan Bowman (Edmonton’s new GM), who did re-sign both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to eight-year deals at $10.5 million.”
The comments underscore the sense of urgency Edmonton has in re-signing Draisaitl before moving on to a new deal for McDavid.
According to Stauffer, the conversations he’s had with Draisaitl’s representation have steered him toward an eight-year contract.
Stauffer concluded:
“It is my belief that we are probably looking at an eight-year deal for Leon. And if I was representing Leon I would want an eight-year deal for a 29-year-old player.”
Ultimately, the Oilers will do everything in their power to lock up Leon Draisaitl, presumably, for the rest of his career. It remains to be seen when a deal will get done. In the meantime, the only thing fans and analysts can do is speculate for how long and how much Leon Draisaitl will sign in Edmonton.
Predicting Leon Draisaitl’s next contract
The Edmonton Journal piece compared the biggest contracts in today’s NHL. In particular, the piece compared the second contracts signed by Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
Matthews signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs for $11.6 million AAV, while MacKinnon looks like a steal at $6.3 million per season. However, McDavid signed for a whopping $12.5 million AAV on an eight-year deal.
Incredibly, the $12.5 cap hit does not look extreme at all, given McDavid’s overall performance throughout the contract’s lifetime.
As such, the Journal piece ascertains that Leon Draisaitl could sign an eight-year deal at an $11.4 million cap hit on the low end. That would be the very low end. In contrast, the highest cap hit would be $17.6 million, equal to 20% of the Oilers’ total cap.
While $17 million per season seems out of the question at this point, an AAV of around $12.5 to $13.5 million seems more reasonable.
Ultimately, the only limitation for Edmonton will be balancing the books. The Oilers may not have the cap space to fit such a substantial deal. The Oilers may have to get creative to make the deal work on both ends.
But one thing is certain: The Oilers will do everything they can to keep Draisaitl in Edmonton.
