EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl got a warm reception in the Edmonton Oilers’ locker room after achieving an impressive milestone in a 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Place on Thursday.
With three assists, the Germany-born forward reached 900 points in 751 games, becoming the fifth-fastest European player to the mark. Only Peter Stastny (599 games), Jari Kurri (632), Jaromir Jagr (681) and Nikita Kucherov (743) got there faster than Draisaitl.
“Anytime there’s an accomplishment in the room it’s always a special thing," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said Friday. “It kind of breaks up the monotony of the year and you want to make it special for guys. There was a little appreciation for him and it was a good night.”
Selected No. 3 by the Oilers in the 2014 NHL Draft, Draisaitl is in his 11th season with the Oilers. He makes up half of Edmonton’s dynamic duo along with McDavid, who reached 1,000 points in 659 games on Nov. 25, becoming the fourth fastest to do it.
The Oilers host the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; SN, NBCSCA).
“It’s an incredible accomplishment, to do it so quickly, it’s just an amazing feat,” McDavid said of Draisaitl. “He’s been amazing all year, all his career, it’s impressive to see every single day.”
The three points lifted Draisaitl into second place in the NHL scoring race with 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) in 32 games entering Friday. He is two points behind Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (13 goals, 39 assists) and one ahead of Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning (14 goals, 35 assists).
“It feels good, it’s a hard league and you learn a lot along the way,” Draisaitl said after the win. “Every day you truly learn something new. I’m obviously proud of myself, but you can’t get to those milestones without teammates and guys trusting you, coaches trusting you. A big, big thank you goes out to everyone who helped along the way.”
Draisaitl brings a seven-game multipoint streak into Saturday. He has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in that span.
“I think Leon’s been playing exceptionally well for five, six, seven weeks,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday. “Not only offensively with goal-scoring and the assists, but also the defensive play. There’s not much he’s not doing.”
Draisaitl and McDavid have been playing together for the past 10 seasons and helped Edmonton become a Stanley Cup contender. The Oilers made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season, losing 2-1 to the Florida Panthers, and are looking to get back there this season.
“I think he’s just gotten better and better every year it seems,” McDavid said. “He’s such a smart player, he’s always learning new things, learning new ways to be better and you can see that this year, he’s been on another level.”
Draisaitl is working his way into Hart Trophy consideration again this season. He won the most valuable player award in 2020, the same season he won the Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player as voted on by his peers, and the Art Ross Trophy for winning the scoring race with 110 points (43 goals, 67 assists) in 71 games. He has scored at least 50 goals three times and is on pace to do it again this season.
Assistant Glen Gulutzan, now in his seventh season with the Oilers, has seen Draisaitl evolve into one of the best players in the NHL.
“For me, it’s both ends of the ice, he’s always had that (offensive) ability, but now you probably see some of those videos where he’s tracking back like crazy and stripping pucks and doing those things,” Gulutzan said Friday. “I think that’s where his game has come, it’s a way more complete game than it was seven years ago when I was here. He’s just developed in all ways, physically, the ability to score, the ability to make plays. He’s just gotten better with age.”
On most teams, the 29-year-old would be at the top of the marquee, but as long as McDavid is in Edmonton, he will always have second billing. That does not seem to matter to Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year, $112-million contract ($14 million average annual salary) on Sept. 3, to stay in Edmonton. The contract begins next season.
McDavid is expected to follow suit this summer with his current contract expiring at the end of the 2025-2026 season.
“The biggest thing for me when people ask, is that our superstars, when we’re talking Connor and Leon, they don’t have huge egos, they’re very humble,” Gulutzan said. “They don’t need a lot of limelight and they don’t thrive on that. They just thrive on competing and playing. That’s the biggest thing for them. On any given night one of them is taking over or doing something great in the game, but they don’t have the ego to always need to be at the forefront.”
