Draisaitl’s Historic Oilers Deal Exhibits NHL Prepared for ‘NBA Second’

Leon Draisaitl is skating into the longer term.

The Edmonton Oilers star middle is now the NHL’s highest-paid participant after signing an eight-year contract extension value $112 million. The typical annual worth of $14 million is the best in NHL historical past and second general richest contract ever behind Alex Ovechkin’s $124 million deal in 2008.

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The Oilers needed to lock up the 28-year-old after the franchise got here one victory away from profitable the Stanley Cup in June. The historic contract, which factors to the well being and trajectory of the league, means Draisaitl will incur the best wage cap hit in NHL historical past however offers the remainder of the league a way of what chips shall be accessible at future negotiating tables. The present collective bargaining settlement (CBA) is ready to run out after the 2025-2026 season.

“We’re peering into the longer term,” Mike Liut, Draisaitl’s agent and the managing director of Octagon Hockey, stated in an interview. “The historic nature of this shall be a little bit bit just like the NBA’s second when the brand new media contracts took the wage cap up significantly. … There isn’t this inflow of capital, however the wage cap has been artificially suppressed, and it’s going to spring ahead over the subsequent two years.”

The NHL wage cap subsequent season shall be $88 million, however that quantity ought to exceed $100 million in two years due to the pandemic recovery, with hockey-related income now surpassing the cap. It’s been fairly the turnaround for the NHL, which has topped an all-time excessive of $6 billion largely due to new media offers, rising stars, jersey sponsors, new sponsorship agreements and better attendance. The present CBA, although, continues to be in its MOU section because of uncertainty introduced on by the pandemic and hasn’t fairly caught as much as right now’s revenues. Executives and brokers anticipate the cap will bounce when the brand new CBA is struck.

It’s anticipated to be a stable pop based mostly on the hockey-related revenues from the earlier two seasons. “That shall be our NBA second or wage cap bounce,” stated Luit, a former NHL All-Star goaltender who helped put collectively the seventh contract in league historical past value no less than $100 million.

Draisaitl, who has model offers with Puma, Sports activities Interactive, Warrior and others, will enter his eleventh season with the Oilers this upcoming marketing campaign, the place he’ll play on the ultimate 12 months of his present contract ($8.5 million AAV). The German alternate captain returns to Edmonton, a small-market membership that manages to complete often within the prime 10 in staff income with assist from the Ice District Plaza, which was a success in the course of the staff’s playoff run final 12 months. Luit says that his consumer does have a relationship with Oilers proprietor Daryl Katz, which was useful to safe such a hefty long-term deal. However he says these negotiations have been executed between him and Octagon agent Andy Scott, with normal supervisor Stan Bowman, who joined the membership in July, sitting throughout the desk.

“From our perspective, it ought to’ve been greater and from their perspective, it ought to’ve been decrease, and that’s how negotiations usually finish,” Luit stated, laughing. “However [Draisaitl] is all in on the Edmonton. That’s what he’s saying with this contract.”

It stays to be seen how this historic extension will affect Draisaitl’s companion in crime, league celebrity Connor McDavid, who has two seasons left on the $100 million deal he inked with the Oilers in 2017. Bowman has already stated the staff is prioritizing maintaining the duo and supporting solid collectively. However within the meantime, Edmonton signing its prime middle to a hefty extension suggests a time is coming the place different NHL stars will obtain $100 million-plus contracts on a extra common foundation.

“Welcome to the longer term,” Liut stated.

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