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There's absolutely no way for the Oilers to get out of Draisaitl's new contract
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There's absolutely no way for the Oilers to get out of Draisaitl's new contract

Trade-proof, buyout-proof, lockout-proof... the Oilers are on the hook for $14 million AAV until Draisaitl is 37 years old.

Trevor Connors

The Oilers have officially signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight year contract extension worth $14 million per season.

"This is an historic day for the Edmonton Oilers," said Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Stan Bowman in a prepared statement. "Leon's commitment to our team, our city and Oilers fans everywhere cannot be overstated. His desire to help bring a Stanley Cup title home to Edmonton is central to everything he does both on and off the ice."

The deal pays Draisaitl a whopping $112 million with $104 million of it guaranteed, regardless of CBA squabbles between the NHL and the NHLPA. The new contract is structured in such a way that Draisaitl receives only $1 million annually in salary and a sliding scale of $15.5 million to $11 million in bonus payments to be made annually on July 1st. If the NHL locks out the players and freezes their salary again, Draisaitl will still get his fat stack on July 1st every year.

Here's how it all plays out:


Smart move by Draisaitl because not only is he now protected from a potential lock out, but he's also protected from any sort of contract buy-out or a trade with salary retention. The Oilers can only retain $500,000 in salary in a potential Draisaitl trade, while his cap hit would remain at $14 million. Essentially, Draisaitl is structuring his contract so that it will be impossible for the Oilers to get out of their commitment.

Interestingly enough, NHL insider Andy Stickland reports that Draisaitl and the Oilers had an agreement in place late last week, but they pushed their public announcement until this week in order to let the hockey world properly grieve the death of former Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau.

From Strickland:


A classy move by both Draisaitl and the Oilers organization. With all of the mourning that has played out over the entire hockey world, I don't think too many people have been in the mood to celebrate a contract extension. Again, total class from the Oilers.

Both Draisaitl and Bowman will meet with the media at 11:30am MT.

Read below for our earlier report, published as events occurred.


According to a late night report yesterday evening from Edmonton Oilers insider Joshua Marshall of the '2 Mutts Hockey Podcast', the Oilers are reportedly set to sign superstar forward Leon Draisaitl to an eight year contract extension worth $14 million per season.

Check it out:


Just last week NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that the Edmonton Oilers and superstar forward Leon Draisaitl are far apart in contract extension negotiations. You have to imagine that both sides are in agreement on a long-term deal, but Seravalli reported that the two sides are far apart on total dollars and annual average value.

It's also worth noting that Marshall reports that Draisaitl will not sign a contract once the 2024-25 season starts.

"Leon Draisaitl is scheduled to be in Edmonton within the next couple of days," Marshall reported yesterday. "This was a week that was very important to get this done. Talks will pick up as him & Stan Bowman will meet in person."

"If there is no deal to be signed before September 19th, Leon won’t negotiate during the season. The goal is to get this done before that date as Leon doesn’t want this to be a problem or a distraction going into training camp."

Stay tuned for confirmation of today's rumor.

Source: Edmonton Oilers