EDMONTON — Body language. It’s always been a bit of a thing for Leon Draisaitl, as he’s admitted many times.
“I always, obviously, wear my heart on my sleeve,” he said Tuesday, a nod to that on the day he signed on to “hopefully be an (Edmonton) Oiler for life.”
So let’s put away the tells and press box impressions for a while, and talk about what we know to be 100 per cent true:
Draisaitl, a top-four player in the world, just signed on to finish his career in Edmonton, all but ensuring that the No. 1 player in the world will do the same thing a year from now.
Edmonton, the town that great players once came to leave, is now the place where great players wish to stay.
It’s quite a transformation, really.
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“Obviously we haven’t gotten the job done yet. Which makes it, to me, even more special. Like, we’re going to do this together,” Draisaitl began on Tuesday, the day the Oilers announced he had signed an eight-year contract with an annual average value of $14 million.
They’ve built a true team here. One that can overcome the weather, the geography, and the fishbowl that is playing for a Canadian contender.
Today, players’ wives no longer forbade them to sign here. Now, with a proper culture fully installed, the opposite is true.
“We’ve created friendships over the last couple of years. Our wives, fiancees, girlfriends have created friendships — like forever, lasting friendships — over the last couple of years. And that’s really, really special,” Draisaitl said. “Our main priority is to win, of course. You can ask Connor, Darnell, Nuge, (Zach Hyman) — we all want to win. But I think what we’ve created off the ice is almost just as important.
“People want to come here, and when they do come, it’s hard for them to leave now. And I think we’ve created that over the last couple years, and that’s something that we’re really, really proud of.
“But the main priority is to win the Stanley Cup.”
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If you can read those words and still think that Connor McDavid is going to sign anywhere else but Edmonton, you truly are delusional.
Draisaitl stayed because he loves the culture and he can’t find another place with a better chance to win. McDavid sets that culture in Edmonton, and when his lieutenants sign on for eight years as we’ve seen in Edmonton, the captain will not be far behind.
The jealous will say that signing your second best player for $14 million makes it impossible to build a winner. Oilers general manager Stan Bowman would reply, and we paraphrase, that whatever questions exist around building a Stanley Cup contender around two legit superstars, divesting yourself of Leon Draisaitl is never going to be a viable answer.
“There aren’t many people in the world that can play hockey like he does,” Bowman said. “There’s no way we could replace what Leon brings to the table.
“We’ll figure the other stuff out down the road, but right now we’re just thrilled he’s with us.”
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Draisaitl is, on rough average, a 50-goal 100-point centreman whose playoff production is impeccable — injured or healthy.
In the past five post seasons, he has averaged 1.51 points per game — behind only McDavid’s 1.71. Auston Matthews, the game’s best goal scorer, is at 1.00. Draisaitl’s Oilers have played in nine playoff series in the past three years, winning six of them.
In the past six regular seasons, the big German sits second in NHL points (107 per season), second in goals (averages 45), and third in assists (averages 62). His faceoff percentage over that time is 54 per cent.
He falls somewhere behind McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in the pantheon of NHL superstars, an equal to Nikita Kucherov and Matthews, and somewhere above the rest.
And ask folks in Winnipeg or Calgary: when you are Edmonton, and a player of this stature wishes to finish his career there, you have a contract ready by end of day for him to sign.
“I love nothing more than wearing that jersey,” Draisaitl said.
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So he took marginally less than he could have commanded, to leave some cap space with which to pay everyone else.
“It’s a fine line, and that’s where negotiations get to a standstill,” said Draisaitl, who turns 29 on Oct. 27 and has nine seasons left as an Oiler. “But … we know you can’t win with two-, three-, four-man rosters. This league’s too good.”
There is only two things left now: a McDavid signature, and a Stanley Cup. Perhaps not in that order.
“Connor’s going to do what’s, what’s best for him. I did what I thought was best for me personally,” Draisaitl said. “Do I hope that Connor follows along? I’d be lying if I said no.”
One down, the other on the tee.
It’s a good day in Edmonton. Now, for a better one.
