The Edmonton Oilers announced Wednesday the team signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year contract extension worth $68 million.
“I’m very happy,” he told Global News. “I said it all along — for me, there was never a thought about going anywhere else or maybe signing anywhere else. For me, it was all about the Oilers from the beginning.
“We have such a good group and it’s so much fun to be a part of,” Draisaitl said.
“We love playing for each other. We’re like a family. For me, it was just a matter of being a part of that as long as possible.”
The extension will see the centre remain with the team through the 2024-2025 season, running mostly concurrently with the eight-year, $100-million extension star captain Connor McDavid signed with the club in July.
READ MORE: Connor McDavid signs contract extension with Edmonton Oilers worth $100M
McDavid’s extension will come into effect after he finishes his entry-level deal this season.
“We’ve got two very significant pieces tied up in a good way. It’s up to us as hockey ops people to put the rest of the pieces in place and maintain the rest of the pieces,” Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli said.
With the signing, the Oilers are banking heavily on McDavid and Draisaitl providing a potent one-two punch for the club as it looks to build on last season’s return to the playoffs after a decade of futility.
“It showed people that we’re for real, we’re no joke anymore,” Draisaitl said of the team’s playoff run. “I think we just have the right pieces in the right place right now.
“We have something special and hopefully we can take it all the way.”
WATCH: Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl dominates against the Anaheim Ducks
The 21-year-old German will earn an average of $8.5 million per season.
He just completed his third season in the National Hockey League and finished second in team scoring behind Connor McDavid.
In the 2016-2017 season, Draisaitl ranked eighth among all NHL scorers with 77 points.
He also led the Oilers in scoring during the 2017 NHL playoffs, posting 16 points in 13 games.
Even though negotiations lasted into mid-August, neither side was concerned about talks dragging into training camp next month and keeping Draisaitl away from the team.
Chiarelli called the negotiations professional and transparent.
“Things take some time,” he explained. “We met with Leon at the end of the year in exit meetings and told him we want him to be one of the pillars of this team.”
Draisaitl, a natural centre, slid to right wing alongside McDavid at the start of December and went on to notch 60 points in 58 games — good for sixth in the NHL over that span.
In question now and moving forward is whether the Oilers keep the two franchise studs together and have them wreak havoc as a duo, or split them apart for increased depth.
READ MORE: Edmonton Oilers force Game 7 after devastating the Ducks in 7-1 win
Draisaitl was selected by the Oilers in the first round, third overall in the 2014 NHL Draft.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Reid Wilkins, 630 CHED
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