As an Oilers fan I do believe Mathews is better then Draisaitl but the gap isn't as big as some or even all leafs fan think. Neither player is generational. But will score 40-50+ goals for the rest of their careers. Mathews probably more but not by much. I don't think the first is enough to make this trade "fair" though today, only because that first could end a late pick and those picks can bust just as much produce a top 6 F or top 4 D. Give it 3-4 seasons Mathews might want out of Toronto because let's face it they can't get past the first round in the playoffs just as much as the Oilers have struggled to make it to the playoffs. Then you could probably argue a trade 1 for 1, especially if they both continue to improve the way they have, also considering cap and term. They are pretty even. Drai plays with Nuge and McDavid but Mathews has had a better overall team to play with. So it's hard to compare who will prove to be significantly better in the long run, like entire career long run. I would rather have Mathews over Draisaitl tbh but not at the cost when both contribute at elite levels. Draisaitl overall more as of right now. Both aren't at their ceiling either. But who needs em when you have a legit generational player like McDavid.

If by 'massive part' you mean the 6th most used forward whos use on it decreased as the season went on. He wasn't used because he was notoriously bad on it.

Here's a visualization of Draisaitl's effect on the PK



Basically it means without Drai, Edmonton had the best PK in the league. With Drai, it was middling at best. They were good despite him not because of him.

Edmonton has since lost a lot of those forwards that were in front of him. If Drai is the answer for that problem, they are going to be a disaster.

The term "generational talent" has lost all meaning since then. I hear it at every draft. It's like back in high school where if your buddy had some really good weed, he might say something like "man, I got some kush". Now, people call everything kush. Matthews is kush by the modern definition, not by the old school one.

That’s some great info 👍. Now let’s recall, I never said he was the best defensive player in the league or of all time or anything crazy.. simply using your info he is 6th out of 12+ on his team which is 13th out of 31 teams. And it’s not as if his team had a 1A G, both of those G are 1B at the very best. To think the Oil has an amazing D line up would also be a mistake. If Drais is the #1 guy and the oil have lost the 5 guys ahead of him the. I agree, they are going to be hurting on the PK. But I don’t think it’s fair to call the 6th best player on the 13th best team a defensive liability, not to mention his offensive side is nothing to shake a stick at. A defensive liability would be a guy who scores 100+ points and is a overall minus, who doesn’t play any pk minutes because he is actually a 1 way guy. Someone closer to a kessel type of player. If some variation of the above trade happened it would leave Drais as one of the top 3 guys in TOR. Thanks for the charts though, I love seeing all that kind of stuff but don’t have time to search it all myself sometimes.

No, you called him a 'massive part' of the Oilers PK. The info clearly shows he wasn't. He was a tiny part of it who got used less and less as the season went on because he was a defensive liability.

You also might want to check his stats, Draisaitl was an overall -7.

Well yes and no. Draisaitl mostly only played PK If it was a major penalty/ two minors close together or if it was 3 on 5. He was the First forward called upon in 3 on 5 situations, which is much harder to defend. I would bet if you looked at 4 on 5 only, the results would be a lot better.

I have my doubts. His time on ice for 4v5 PK was 56:46.

Dammit, I’ll concede that