Well that last article stayed relevant for almost 24 hours.
The Oilers signed Draisaitl to a 3 year Entry Level Contract today.
As previously stated, I think there is absolutely no way the newest Oiler fails to win a spot at camp. The competition for his position is thinner than Martin Marincin's arms. All he has to do is beat the stone-handed Anton Lander for a spot as a soft-minutes C with the ability to contribute on Offence and the job is his.
His first job in the NHL has been gift-wrapped for him.
I'm not actually complaining about that fact too much though because he is an elite prospect and he has NHL size already. It isn't ideal that the Oilers will go into the season with Arcobello and Draisaitl as 2 of their 4 Centers, but with the gains made at the rest of the roster it might be an acceptable risk to go with the guy who lead the Oil in possession and one of the NHL's best prospects backing up RNH and Gordon (who will be sacrificed to the Quality of Competition gods every night).
As a reminder, Draisaitl went 64GP 38-67-105 with the PA Raiders. He has also been a point per game with the German national team at the World Junior Championship through 12 games over 2 tournaments. And he also picked up 4 points in 7 games at the Men's World Championships as well.
He's a player. I'm remaining optimistic (as is my summer tradition) as to what he can bring in a sheltered role with the Oilers.
I envision a Yak-Drai-Purcell line combination that feasts on weaker competition, but the GM has already mused about the possibility of him lining up with Perron. Where do you see him fitting in?
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