Leon Draisaitl deservedly receives NHL award for Oilers
The month of February was a nightmare for the Edmonton Oilers, even allowing for the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They went just 2-6-0, needing overtime to secure their two wins, as they fell off the pace in the Western Conference standings and lost top spot in the Pacific Division.
However, it was another story for Leon Draisaitl on an individual level, even though he would happily substitute personal success for that of the Oilers as a whole. As per the official team site, he has been named the NHL’s Third Star of the Month, for February.
Certainly it was deserved, as Draisaitl paced the NHL with eight goals and matched his career-high of scoring in seven consecutive games. He also produced four assists, with his 12 overall points being one behind league-leader Brandon Hagel for the month. (Hagel was named Second Star of the Month for February.)
Leon Draisaitl has been unstoppable for the Oilers
The five-time NHL All-Star has been sensational full stop so far in 2024-25, with him entering Saturday’s slate of games leading the league with 44 goals and 10 ahead of his nearest competitor. (He has yet to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy in his career.) Further, he is currently projected to finish the season with 61 goals, which would surpass his current career-best of 55 that was set during the 2021-22 campaign.
In respect of overall points, Drasaitl’s total of 88 are three behind league leader Nathan MacKinnon again prior to Saturday’s NHL schedule. (Incidentally, MacKinnon was named First Star of the Month for February.) At his current pace, the German native is projected to produce 122 points, which would be behind the career-high 128 he scored back in 2022-23.
Few will deny that Connor McDavid is still the Oilers’ best player in general, but for this season specifically, he is second-best to Draisaitl thus far. As much as the +/-rating has its critics, this helps accentuate the point, with Draisaitl leading the team with a +27, while McDavid is just on +3.
Overall, we do expect McDavid to step up his play over the final quarter of the 2024-25 regular season, with the Oilers still aiming to finish with a favourably standing in the Western Conference despite their current — at the time of writing — season-worst five game losing streak. However, Draisaitl has been the most valuable player on the team up to this point, which is ironic give his eight-year, $112 million deal kicked in this season and is currently the most expensive contract in NHL history.
