From 'massive overpay' to the 'stuff of legends,' hockey fans share mixed feelings after Leon Draisaitl signs huge contract extension with Oilers

Connor McDavid? Nope. Auston Mathews? No. Alex Ovechkin? Sidney Crosby? No and no.

The NHL's highest-paid player is no longer any of the above, thanks to Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl, who inked a historic contract extension on Tuesday morning to remain in Edmonton. The deal, worth $112 million over eight years, will pay Draisaitl $14 million per season, marking the richest contract in NHL history from an average annual value (AAV) standpoint.

As far as total money goes, only Washington Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin — who signed a 13-year contract worth $124 million back in 2008 — has earned a bigger deal than the one Draisaitl inked on Tuesday.

Draisaitl, who was entering the final season of his current contract with an annual cap hit of $8.5 million, will become the NHL's highest-paid player when his new deal kicks in next summer, taking the torch from Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, whose four-year deal carries an annual cap hit of $13.25 million.

Draisaitl's new contract is reportedly front-loaded and also includes a full no-trade clause throughout the entirety of the eight-year deal.

Draisaitl, who is coming off his third-straight campaign with 100-plus points and 40-plus goals, has been one of the NHL's elite — and most consistent — offensive talents over the past several seasons. Since inking his current contract back in 2017, the 28-year-old ranks second in goals (297), second in points (713), fourth in game-winning goals (53) and first in power-play goals among all NHL skaters in the regular season. For his career, Draisaitl has tallied 347 goals and 850 points over 719 regular-season NHL contests.

The big German has also been one of the NHL's top playoff performers over the past three postseasons, ranking tied for first in goals (30), first in power-play goals (15), second in assists (51) and second in points (81).

Draisaitl, selected third overall by Edmonton in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, has claimed plenty of major individual hardware, too, winning the Hart Trophy (league MVP), Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award, and has been an NHL All-Star five times.

Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman, who took over the role this summer after the departure of former GM Ken Holland, made it clear in his introductory press conference in late July that getting Draisaitl's extension done this summer was a "top priority" for him and the franchise.

For Bowman, it was essentially a no-brainer to hand Draisaitl his new history-making deal.

"This is a historic day for the Edmonton Oilers," Bowman said on Tuesday. "Leon’s commitment to our team, our city and Oilers fans everywhere cannot be overstated. His desire to help bring a Stanley Cup title home to Edmonton is central to everything he does both on and off the ice."

The Oilers GM added:

"Leon is a super-talented player, a huge part of what we’re doing, and he has been and will be for some time and that hasn’t changed at all. I think it’s really hard to find stars in the NHL, so when you have them, the goal is to keep them."

A seemingly excited Draisaitl shared the news of his massive extension on social media on Tuesday.

Draisaitl also expressed just how much it means to him to be locked in with the Oilers — the only franchise and NHL city he's ever known — for likely the rest of his career.

Draisaitl himself, his teammates, his GM and the organization as a whole are clearly thrilled to have one of the NHL's top offensive players locked up for the long haul.

Plenty of Oilers fans echoed that sentiment, with many flooding to social media to express their excitement over Tuesday's big news.

Yet despite the online excitement, plenty of Oilers supporters and hockey fans at large weren't quite sold on the deal.

Many think the contract is too rich for the five-time All-Star, while some lambasted Draisaitl for not taking less money to ensure the Oilers can afford to build a quality team around him — something fellow NHL star Sidney Crosby notoriously did to allow the Penguins to assemble back-to-back Cup-winning teams in 2016 and 2017.

"This will be a bad contract in 3-4 years," read one comment on X. "Crazy overpay," read another.

One fan wrote, "So much for that discount everyone was talking about him taking in order to help them win."

Another X user mused: "Thats such a brutal deal especially considering their cap and how extremely overrated draisaitl is (imo)."

"Definitely not a huge discount to stay with the Oilers," one reply read. "It’s going to be Drai, McDavid, Bouchard dragging Nurse’s contract around, with a bunch of min salary has-beens or rookies filling in all the other positions for the next eight years."

The deal — though generally positive for both the player and team at the moment — certainly comes with some concerns as the team will have a ton of salary-cap space tied up in three or four players moving forward.

With the world's best player, Connor McDavid — who is due for a new contract soon, likely north of $16-million per season — along with up-and-coming blueliner Evan Bouchard (who will probably sign an extension in the $10-million per season range), the Oilers will in all likelihood be paying around $40 million per season for three players in the near future. Throw defenceman Darnell Nurse into the mix, and the team could be spending around 50 percent of its salary cap space on just four players a couple of seasons down the line.

Opinions were split on what that all means for Edmonton going forward.

Much of the discourse relating to Tuesday's Draisaitl news also centered around the aforementioned McDavid, who will, surely, take over the NHL's highest-paid-player crown from Draisaitl when he signs his next deal sometime over the next 12-24 months.

How, exactly, will this impact McDavid's future with the Oilers? Many fans — along with Draisaitl himself — had lots of different takes on that whole situation, too.

And what would some big Oilers news be without a bunch of Leafs and Canucks fans trolling the Edmonton franchise at every opportunity?

Despite the online banter, jokes and trolling, this was a massive day for Draisaitl and the Oilers — no matter how you slice it.