Making Draisaitl the highest-paid C and only giving him 5-years would be silly. He's not the top C on the team, so there's no reason to do something so desperate like that. How much would they pay McDavid? 16Mx8? Or would they open the door for him to walk in FA by signing him to 5-year deal too?

Not the best C, but he is the best playoff performer in the NHL. Also, he would be 35 years old when the deal ends, so why not?

The cap hit is so high, if more term leads to a lower cap hit then you do that for sure. The second reason is that McDavid isn't going to be taking less than Draisaitl, so the cap crunch will be even more crazy once his deal kicks in. It's already tough enough for the Oilers as is, can't expect McDavid and Draisaitl to overplay for the next 6 years and expect to be competitive.


If it costs that much to keep Draisaitl, might as well trade him. I would send him to Florida for Verhaeghe (arguably the most clutch playoff performer in the NHL in the last 3-years), Lundell, and whatever else they can extract from Florida.