This is the beginning of what could be a very fruitful award season for Leon Draisaitl. With the conclusion of the 2024–25 season coming later today, he has won the Rocket Richard Trophy.
Draisaitl keeps scoring
With 52 goals in his 71 games played, Draisaitl has maintained a commanding lead on this award for most of the season. Despite playing just three games in the final month of the season, he is still on track to win the award by seven goals over William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This is the fourth time that Draisaitl has hit 50 goals in a single season, with his career-high being 55 in 2021–22.
It’s been a few years since Draisaitl has been on the award stage. Once before—when he decided to become the best player in the league for the first time in 2019–20—he won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Lester B. Pearson awards. If it weren’t for injuries, he would likely be a shoe-in for all three of those again this season as he has carried the struggling Oilers to a sixth consecutive playoff berth.
The Rocket Richard has been the elusive offence-related trophy that Draisaitl has yet to win. So this is a monumentous occasion as he will take home the award for the first time.
It’s not, however, the first time he has been in the running for it. Back in 2018–19, Draisaitl’s first 50-goal season, he finished just one goal behind the eventual winner, Alex Ovechkin. It was even closer than that suggests, as Draisaitl had an empty net chance that was blocked in the final game of the season by Calgary Flames defender Rasmus Andersson that prevented him from tying for the league lead.
Now, he is finally on track to say he has won this award.
Leon Draisaitl 2024–25 highlights
How did we get to this point? Here are a few of the best goals that Draisaitl scored this season on his way to leading the league in goals.
A signature goal for Draisaitl as he blasts a one-timer from his office.
Leon Draisaitl muscles off Gustav Forsling and stuffs it home 💪 pic.twitter.com/YgywsDkPHv
— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) February 28, 2025
A huge show of strength from Draisaitl here as he shoves off Gustav Forsling like it’s nothing on his way to scoring the goal.
Draisaitl, from his knees, takes one shot, continues sliding toward the net to grab the loose puck, and then gets another shot off to score his 40th of the season.
Leon is locked in
This was another case of Draisaitl stepping up when in mattered, and in more games than not, he was a big reason the Oilers came out on top.
