The Edmonton Oilers appear close to sorting out at least one piece of their salary cap puzzle.
On Tuesday morning, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweed out that the Oilers and star forward Leon Draisaitl “have made significant progress on a contract extension.”
Hearing the Edmonton Oilers and Leon Draisaitl have made significant progress on a contract extension. No one is commenting, but it appears we are close to an eight-year extension.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 3, 2024
“No one is commenting, but it appears we are close to an eight-year extension,” Friedman added.
Though he did not have a dollar figure on the deal at this point in time, Friedman suggested the deal could be worth $14 million annually, which would make him the highest paid player in the league.
We will see the exact total, but AAV is approx $14M — which is highest in the NHL
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 3, 2024
Draisaitl has 347 goals and 503 assists in 719 games for the Oilers in his career, and has one year left on an eight-year deal worth $8.5 million per season.
Just one week ago, there was a bit of anxiety about the deal getting done.
“I don’t wanna put too fine a point on it because these things change pretty rapidly,” NHL insider Frank Seravalli said on last Monday night’s edition of OilersNow.
“It’s unfair to characterize it as hitting a snag. I would say, right now my understanding is that at least on a money basis, AAV, I think these two sides are a little bit further apart than I envisioned.”
More to come…