KELOWNA, BC - There was Leon Draisaitl in the flesh, speaking to media before an Oilers backdrop on the event level at Prospera Place in Kelowna, BC.
Brushed on the white arena wall above him was Leon Draisaitl drawn in paint, immortalized on the Kelowna Rockets Wall of Recognition for Outstanding Achievement, hoisting the Ed Chynoweth Cup as a member of the Kelowna Rockets.
It's a homecoming, of sorts, for the Deutschland Dangler, who captured a 2014-15 Western Hockey League championship with the club then advanced to the Memorial Cup where he scored four goals and three assists in five games to earn the Stafford Smythe Trophy as the tournament's most valuable player.
Although his Rockets didn't take the tournament - falling to the Oshawa Generals in the final - the MVP nod at the best-on-best circuit meant he met the criteria to be added to the wall, which features supreme NHL talents Jamie Benn, Shea Weber, Tyler Myers and Josh Morrissey, among others.
"They said it's a pretty good painting," Draisaitl, when he was asked about what his teammates thought of the piece, answered.
"They said it's pretty accurate."
MAIN CAMP: Draisaitl rekindles Kelowna memories
The Oilers 2014 third-overall selection knows Kelowna well, having won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as a WHL Champion in '14-15
