Leon Draisaitl

Draisaitl at the 2014 CHL's Top Prospects Game.

Draisaitl's major junior career began with the Western Hockey League's (WHL) Prince Albert Raiders during the during the 2012–13 WHL season.

Draisaitl was traded to the Kelowna Rockets during the 2015 World Junior Championships, the trade made official on 5 January. Draisaitl would help the Rockets to the 2015 WHL Championship, where he would be named playoff MVP after scoring 28 points in 19 games. Draisaitl won the Stafford Smythe Trophy as Memorial Cup MVP the same year, although the Rockets did not win the 2015 Memorial Cup, losing the championship final in overtime 2–1 to the Oshawa Generals.

Draisaitl was drafted third overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, making him the highest drafted German-trained player in NHL history (Dany Heatley, who was selected second overall in 2000, was born in Germany but raised in Canada).

Draisaitl with the Oilers during his rookie season in 2014

On 12 August 2014, Draisaitl signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Edmonton.[5] Making the Oilers' NHL opening night roster out of training camp, Draisaitl made his NHL debut on 9 October 2014 against the Calgary Flames. He scored his first NHL goal on 24 October 2014 against Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Anton Khudobin. Draisaitl appeared in 37 games for the Oilers during the 2014–15 season, recording two goals and four assists, before being returned to the Prince Albert Raiders. The move was made partly to prevent Draisaitl from moving one year closer to free agency which he would have done had he been on the Oilers' roster for more than 40 NHL games).[6]

During the last Oilers game at Rexall Place on 6 April 2016, Draisaitl scored the last NHL goal to be scored there in a 6–2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.[7][8]

On 23 March 2017, Draisaitl became the first Oiler player since 1990 to have six-straight multi-point games.[9]

On 7 May 2017, in Game 6 of Edmonton's second-round 2017 Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Draisaitl became the second youngest Oiler in franchise history to score a hat-trick in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the fifth player in Oilers history to score five or more points in a playoff game.[10]

On 16 August 2017, Draisaitl signed an eight-year, $68 million contract extension with the Oilers worth an annual average cap hit of $8.5 million.[11]

On 6 April 2019, Draisaitl became the sixth Oiler (and the first since Craig Simpson in 1987–88) to score at least 50 goals in a season. Draisaitl became the ninth Oiler to score at least 100 points in an NHL season.

In 2020, Draisaitl became the third Oilers player (after Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid) and first German player to win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer.[12] He was also awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award.[13][14]

On 31 January 2021, Draisaitl recorded six assists in the 8–5 win against the Ottawa Senators,[15] becoming the first Oilers' player since Paul Coffey on 14 March 1986, to record a six-assist game.[16][17]

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