Entering his 12th season in the NHL, Leon Draisaitl has undoubtedly put together an impressive resume. Before turning 30 years old, his career included two trips to the Stanley Cup Final as well as Art Ross, Hart Memorial, Ted Lindsay, and Rocket Richard trophies. Recently, Twitter user @BigHeadHcky posted this interesting statistic:
Of the last seven seasons, Draisaitl has put together 100+ point seasons six times with the only exception being a COVID-19 shortened 2020–21 campaign. His playoff point-per-game total is no less impressive, 1.469 points per game, which is the highest such statistic for a European-born player.
Is Leon Draisaitl one of the best European born-players of all time? Let’s look at this further below.
What makes Draisaitl the best player
There is no doubt that when it comes to offensive potential, Draisaitl has continued to make the case (and pull away) for being the best European player. His six 100-point seasons are one season shy of being tied for most by European-born player.
In fact last season, he became the fifth-fastest European-born player to reach 900 points. His lethal shot has produced 399 regular season goals and if he continues to score at his current pace, he is very likely to become a top-five European-born goal scorer in the next four seasons. His ability to score goals has made him a dangerous presence on the power play where he continues to instill fear into the opposing goaltenders.
His playmaking skills are just as impressive. Visually, Draisaitl continues to be seen as one of the most dominant puck possession players. His ability to hold on to the puck while pushing the opponents away is truly unparalleled while his passing plays don’t get as much recognition as they should, likely because he plays with the greatest player on the planet in Connor McDavid. This OT winner goal shows exactly what Leon Draisaitl is capable of.
More recently, Draisaitl has also improved his two-way game. For much of the season, before his untimely injury, he was frequently commended for his defensive game and found his way into discussions for the Selke Trophy. Should Draisaitl continue on this trajectory, he may very well become one of the best European two-way players.
Why Draisaitl is not yet the best European-best player
Hockey careers are often judged by the final result and that is something that Leon Draisaitl has not accomplished. Draisaitl is yet to lift the Stanley Cup despite reaching the final two years in a row. Players like Evgeni Malkin, Nicklas Lidstrom and Jari Kurri each have three or more Stanley Cup rings to their names and it is hard to argue that any of these players were any less impactful in their prime than Draisaitl currently is. More recently, Finnish player Aleksander Barkov has been able to captain his team to two consecutive Stanley Cups.
Another argument to consider is that Draisaitl has spent majority of his career playing alongside Connor McDavid. While Draisaitl has proved that he can be the best player on the Oilers team, winning the Hart Memorial and Ted Lindsay trophies in 2019–2020 season, there is no doubt that having the best player in the world on his team brings out the best in Draisaitl. I will certainly give Draisaitl grace on this one as players like Kurri, Lidstrom, and Jagr have also played with some of the best players in their prime like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
Finally, playing with McDavid has likely taken away some of the spotlight from Draisaitl’s own individual specialness. This makes his ability to earn more individual accolades tougher given that he plays with the best player in the world on a nightly basis.
Draisaitl is on his way to gaining that accolade
Leon Draisaitl’s time in the league has certainly shown that at 29 years old, he is on pace to be one of the best European-born players. Whether he is the best European player already is certainly up for the debate and only time will tell where he will land amongst this group of players.
However as he continues to push himself in the prime of his career, don’t be surprised if Draisaitl finds his stock on this list accelerate faster than any of us would have likely predicted.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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