Fresh off a Stanley Cup Final run that finished just one win short of a championship, the NHL’s most prolific duo appears intent on running it back in Edmonton.
The first step in ensuring that’s the case long-term came Tuesday, when the Oilers announced an eight-year, $112-million extension for star centre Leon Draisaitl. The pact’s $14-million average annual value will make Draisaitl the highest-paid player in the league when it kicks in for the 2025-26 campaign — at which time Connor McDavid will be eligible to sign a new long-term deal of his own, surely resetting that benchmark, and potentially ensuring the Oilers’ leading pair play the rest of their careers in Alberta.
Draisaitl’s new deal continues what’s been a string of record-setting contracts for star players around the league, with the leading talents in Toronto and Denver adding their own benchmark pacts to the pile over the past two seasons. So, how exactly does the league’s newest bar-raising extension compare to those other mammoth contracts? Here’s a closer look:
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Contract: Four years, $53 million ($13.25 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 15.06 per cent
The Maple Leafs’ new captain reset the market last year with a hefty new deal of his own. Of course, unlike the rest of the players on this list, Matthews signed on for only four years rather than the maximum eight. Still, the Maple Leafs inked him to a $13.25-million AAV that makes Matthews the highest-paid player in the league this coming season, the first of his new deal.
Coming off a five-year contract that came with an $11.64-million AAV, here’s what Matthews amassed to earn his new pact (which was signed ahead of the 2023-24 season): two Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies as the league’s top goal-scorer, one Hart Trophy as league MVP (and one other Hart nomination), one Ted Lindsay Award as the MVP voted by the players, one Calder Trophy from his rookie year, and a total of 299 goals and 542 points in 481 games — good for a pace of 1.13 points per game. This past season, the final year of his previous deal, he added another 69 goals, 107 points, and one more Rocket Richard Trophy to that mix. With the league’s salary cap at $88 million for 2024-25, No. 34’s new deal accounts for 15.06 per cent of Toronto’s cap.
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Contract: Eight years, $100.8 million ($12.6 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 15.09 per cent
Before Matthews, it was MacKinnon resetting that benchmark for the league. The Avalanche dynamo inked his eight-year pact fresh off leading Colorado to a Stanley Cup championship in 2022. Much like Draisaitl, MacKinnon’s new deal also came after a few years playing out what came to be one of the league’s best bargain contracts — a seven-year pact with a $6.3-million AAV, a steal for a player who emerged as one of the top talents in the game during that time.
Over the course of his career, here’s what MacKinnon collected to earn his $100.8-million extension: One Stanley Cup, three Hart Trophy nominations, one Lady Byng Trophy, one Calder Trophy, and totals of 242 goals and 648 points through 638 games (a 1.02 points-per-game pace). In the final season of that previous deal, the Avs talisman posted a career year, amassing 42 goals and 111 points. In the first year of his big-money extension, he did even better, putting up 51 goals and 140 points (the fourth-most goals and second-most points league-wide) while earning the first Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award of his career. His $12.6-million AAV accounted for 15.09 per cent of the Avs’ total cap in the first year of his extension.
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Contract: Eight years, $100 million ($12.5 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 15.72 per cent
There were no bridges for No. 97. It took only two years for Connor McDavid to earn the $100-million extension that made him the highest-paid player in the game six years ago. After being limited to just 45 games as a rookie, the Oilers captain showed out in his first full NHL season, putting up his first 100-point campaign and collecting his first Art Ross Trophy, his first Hart Trophy, and his first Ted Lindsay Award.
Beyond the hardware, before signing his eight-year pact, McDavid had collected 46 goals and 148 points in his first 127 games, good for a 1.17 points-per-game pace. Of course, in the final year of his entry-level deal, he raised his ceiling yet again, putting up 41 goals and 108 points, winning yet another Art Ross Trophy, and adding another Ted Lindsay Award. When his new pact kicked in, his $12.5-million AAV accounted for 15.72 per cent of the Oilers’ cap.
And if there is any question of whether McDavid will soon reclaim his throne as the game’s highest-paid player, here’s what he’s done through the first six years of his current deal: win two more Hart trophies (and earn three other Hart nominations), win two more Ted Lindsay awards, win three more Art Ross trophies, win a Rocket Richard Trophy (for a career 64-goal effort), win one Conn Smythe Trophy for his historic post-season performance as Edmonton reached the Cup Final, and put up totals of 248 goals and 726 points in just 436 games — a downright absurd scoring pace of 1.67 points per game.
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Contract: Eight years, $92.8 million ($11.6 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 13.18 per cent
Past that Big Three, the next highest-earning centreman in 2025-26, when Draisaitl’s new deal kicks in, will be Pettersson, who’s about to begin a new eight-year deal of his own. The Canucks pivot inked his deal this past March, midway through the 2023-24 season, after playing out a three-year bridge deal which included a breakout campaign in 2022-23.
After earning a Calder Trophy as top rookie in Year 1, Pettersson collected 136 goals and 323 points through the first five years of his tenure in Vancouver, including a 39-goal, 102-point effort in that career season. In all, including the numbers he’d put up in 2023-24 before signing on March 2, Pettersson collected 165 goals and 398 points through 387 games to earn his new deal, good for a pace of 1.03 points per game. He finished the 2023-24 campaign with 34 goals and 89 points. With the cap at $88 million for the coming season, Pettersson’s contract accounts for 13.18 per cent of the Canucks’ spending.
William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
Contract: Eight years, $92 million ($11.5 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 13.07 per cent
Rewind a few years, and Nylander re-signing for north of $11 million per season would’ve seemed a wild outcome for the smooth-skating Swede and the Maple Leafs. But after two seasons of steady offensive growth, and a prolific start to the 2023-24 season, Nylander earned a hefty extension of his own when he signed this past January. In 2025-26, he’ll slot in as the player with the sixth-highest cap hit in the league.
Nylander’s performances in 2021-22 and 2022-23 played key roles in him earning his double-digit AAV, as he put up a combined 74 goals and 167 points over the two campaigns. Prior to inking his eight-year extension, the Maple Leafs forward played out a six-year deal that took a stalemate to get inked, that pact carrying a $10.2-million AAV for Year 1, and a $6.96-million AAV for Years 2-6. Nylander avoided another stalemate this time around with a hot start in 2023-24, putting up 54 points over the first 37 games of the season — he went on to finish the year with 40 goals and a career-high 98 points. In all, to earn his $92-million extension, Nylander collected 198 goals and 484 points through 558 games, a scoring pace of 0.87 points per game. With the cap at $88 million this coming season, his contract accounts for 13.07 per cent of the Maple Leafs’ cap.
That brings us to the man of the hour:
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Contract: Eight years, $112 million ($14 million AAV)
Percentage of the cap: 15.2 per cent
Draisaitl’s $14-million AAV tops that of every other player on this list — however, in terms of how much of the Oilers’ cap his AAV will actually eat up, Draisaitl’s deal sits in line with those of comparable talents around the game. With the league’s cap expected to rise as high as $92 million by 2025-26, the first year of the German pivot’s new deal, Draisaitl’s $14-million AAV would account for 15.2 per cent of Edmonton’s cap. If that’s the case, it would be only a shade higher than the first year of Matthews’ deal (15.06 per cent) and the first of MacKinnon’s deal (15.09 per cent), and lower than the first year of McDavid’s (15.72 per cent).
And a glance at what Edmonton’s No. 29 has done in the league to earn this new contract makes clear the value they’re getting. Through 719 games in an Oilers sweater, Draisaitl has collected one Hart Trophy, one Ted Lindsay Award, one Art Ross Trophy, and put up totals of 347 goals and 850 points, good for a scoring pace of 1.18 points per game — higher than anyone else on this list when they inked their comparable big-money extensions.
Throw in his post-season performance (41 goals and 108 points through 74 playoff games, good for a 1.46 points-per-game pace when the stakes are highest), and the fact that he’s been something of a bargain for Edmonton for the past seven years (putting up five 100-point seasons on an $8.5-million AAV), and it’s tough to argue that the Albertan standout hasn’t earned his crown.
