Concern arises in Leon Draisaitl’s situation in Edmonton

When Leon Draisaitl faced media on Wednesday in the Edmonton Oilers’ exit interviews, he had nothing to say about the possibility of signing a contract extension starting on Monday. He simply did not have time to think about it while being focused on the Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers lost the championship in seven games to the Florida Panthers, and Draisaitl isn’t ready to talk about contracts and numbers.

“I’m going to give you the most boring answer here. I’m obviously going to sit down with my agents here and talk to the Oilers and see what their plan is, see what our plan is, and go from there.”

If fans feared that the Oilers would be worried about that answer, well, fear no more. The team is reportedly on the same page, according to insider Chris Johnston, who explained on TSN’s Insider Trading earlier this week that Edmonton will deal with their pending free agents before turning to Draisaitl.

It seems obvious to most Oilers’ fans that Edmonton needs to re-sign him. Draisaitl will be looking at a minimum of $12.5 million on average and probably $13 million for his next cap hit.

But it is true that this is a busy summer for the Oilers, who also have to focus on other free agency matters as they have 10 unrestricted free agents this summer, including Warren Foegele and Adam Henrique , and two restricted free agents in Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. The math needs to be right and keep enough money for Draisaitl. Plain and simple. 

Since being drafted third overall by Edmonton in 2014, Draisaitl has 347 goals and 850 points in 719 career NHL games, and has also won the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award.

You can’t have him walk out of Edmonton.