Edmonton Oilers superstar centre Leon Draisaitl signed an eight-year contract extension at an average annual value of $14 million, putting to rest any uncertainty over his future.
The Oilers enter the 2024/25 season as the +800 favourites to win the Stanley Cup after falling short in seven games against the Florida Panthers in the 2023/24 Final.
Draisaitl was entering the last year of his contract before inking the extension.
The extension kicks in ahead of the 2025/26 season, immediately after the player's current deal ends. The annual value would have made him the third-highest paid player in the NHL in 2023/24, behind only Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.
Draisaitl was rewarded for consistent high-level play. He has posted 100 points in each full season - not including the pandemic-shortened 2020/21 campaign - since 2018/19.
The 28-year-old won the Hart Trophy in the 2019/20 season after posting 43 goals and 67 assists for 110 points in 71 games.
In the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Draisaitl finished joint-third with 10 goals, third with 21 assists, and third with 31 points in 25 games.
He chipped in two assists in Edmonton's 8-1 win over the Panthers in Game 4 of the Final series. The Oilers entered that game down 0-3 and facing elimination, but the huge win was the first in a three-game winning streak before the team fell in Game 7.
Earlier in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Draisaitl had 14 points in a seven-game series against the western Canada rival Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Final, and he had two goals in the series-clinching win over the Los Angeles Kings in the round before.
The next item on the agenda of new Oilers general manager Stan Bowman will be to lock up three-time Hart Trophy winner and team captain Connor McDavid, whose contract expires after the 2025/26 season.
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Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
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