Draisaitl is going to cost more than that. I have to think Monahan's deal at 6.375 would be his starting point. Also don't see Edmonton bringing in a contract like Vatanen's without a significant amount of money going out. McDavid and Maroon will both need new deals and that isn't a lot of cap space to work with. On the other hand I will take that deal for Kassian all day.

Why should Draisaitl make more than 6 x $6.125MM? He's a great player, but largely riding McDavid's coattails right now. They need him to drive his own line, but he hasn't been able to do it yet. Each time TMac has given him a look at C he has quickly moved him back to McDavid's wing.

If the ducks are trading Vat, they are getting a proven Top 6 forward. Good Luck

I agree with you that Leon had problems to drive a line as C. But I think the real problem is that the Oilers do not have a first line right winger who can keep the pace with Connor.
I would try to sign Leon for a three year bridge contract between $4 and $4.5 million a year.

2.5/5 stars

Good job over all. Edmonton has some heavy contracts coming off the books (Fayne / Ference) so the cap space will be a bit larger going into signing CMD. I think Drai is worth and will cost at least $6.5m. "Curtails of CMD" is not even a factor to nogotiate with, top 10 in league scoring at age 21, 30 goal season, trending up year over year, comparables like Monahan, Ebs, nuge and other tangable things are. In the end moving Ebs contract is likely required. Lets see how some of these guys play in the playoffs.

Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle aren't comparables for Draisaitl. Pasternak, Kucherov and Forsberg are, however.

As far as my "coattails" comment, look at goals scored at 5x5/60:

3.48 McDavid with Draisaitl
3.42 McDavid without Draisaitl
2.29 Draisaitl without McDavid

So Draisaitl works well with McDavid, and that's great - credit to him. But until Draisaitl can produce like a superstar away from McDavid, he won't be paid like one.

Actually they are direct compairables. Do you think Drai's camp is not walking into negotiations compairing and contrasting Ebs and Nuges roles and production on the exact same team and how much they make in salary... signed years ago. Why would Drai sign for less, you wouldnt would you? 5x5/60 is a nice cherry picked stat, but bottom line is he is a 21 year old top 10 in scoring, likely to hit 30 goals. Someone has to play with CMD, no one else is doing what Dria is with CMD on that team, goes two ways as well, CMD also benifits from playing with Drai. Drai will get paid more then the 6mill dollar men unless he signs a bridge deal.

Also super stars get paid north of 6 mill per year.

I do think both McDavid and Draisaitl take bride contracts to start. I think they both want to see the Oilers succeed and won't ask for the max at this point. I could see Draisaitl signing a 2-3 year deal for 5mil and McDavid a 2-3 year deal for 8mil. After that McDavid gets the max and Leon will be better evaluated. I think and hope the Oilers learned from the Nugent Hopkins and Eberle signings of 6mill each that a bridge deal is a most. (Especially for Driasaitl) If McDavid refuses a bridge deal, it's a no brainer to give him the max for 8 years.