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September 03 2024
Leon Draisaitl: After leading the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final last season, Leon Draisaitl is set to become the highest-paid player in NHL history. The Oilers announced on Tuesday that Draisaitl has agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $14 million per year. This makes his annual salary the highest the league has ever seen, with the total value of $112 million ranking as the second-largest in NHL history, just behind Alex Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124 million deal from 2008.
Draisaitl is just the seventh player to receive a contract extension worth at least $100 million. He is the first to do so since the Colorado Avalanche signed Nathan MacKinnon to an eight-year, $100.8 million deal in September 2022.
Edmonton now has two players who have signed $100 million deals. Connor McDavid has two years remaining on an eight-year, $100 million extension he signed in July 2017.
The Draisaitl-McDavid duo has formed one of the most dominant pairings in NHL history. Since the two teamed up starting in the 2015-16 season, they have combined for 1,843 points in 1,327 games.
Before picking Draisaitl as the No. 3 choice in the 2014 draft, the Oilers had gone through eight tough seasons without making the playoffs, ending up at the bottom of their division five times during that stretch.
The Oilers have made the postseason in six of the last eight seasons, including the last five years. They reached the Stanley Cup Final last season for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign.
Edmonton became just the third team in NHL history to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after trailing 3-0 in the series. The last time it happened was in 1945 when the Detroit Red Wings did it against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Oilers couldn’t quite pull off the historic comeback, falling 2-1 to Florida in the crucial Game 7. Draisaitl was a powerhouse during that postseason, racking up 31 points across 25 games. At 28, he’s proven himself time and again, hitting the 40-goal and 100-point marks in five of the last six seasons.
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