Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl Should Be Hart Trophy Favourite – The Hockey Writers Edmonton Oilers Latest News, Analysis & More

Edmonton Oilers forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were mic’d up when the latter recorded his 1,000th career point, in Edmonton’s win over the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place on Nov. 14.

Footage appears in the trailer for the latest episode of The Drop, the team’s web series, capturing the moment on the Oilers bench after McDavid’s milestone point: “You’re the GOAT, dude,” Draisaitl tells his close friend. “You’re the GOAT”.

Related: Oilers Beat Sharks 3-2 Despite Heroics From Sharks Rookie Goalie Askarov

Well, McDavid may be the GOAT. But Draisaitl is the MVP. The 29-year-old centre has been the Oilers’ best player over their first 33 games of the 2024-25 NHL season, leading Edmonton in several categories, including goals (24), points (51), plus/minus (plus-19) and game-winning goals (8).

He scored in overtime of Edmonton’s latest game, a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Saturday (Dec. 21), becoming the Oilers all-time leader in overtime goals with 17.

Draisaitl Is Pivotal to Oilers’ Success

Draisaitl has been remarkably consistent and incredibly important. He’s yet to go more than two games without a goal, and the Oilers are 15-4-1 when he scores compared to 5-7-1 when he doesn’t.

League-wide, Draisaitl ranks first in goals and game-winning goals and is second to only Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon in points. He’s tied for third in plus/minus and has some of the best faceoff numbers in the NHL, winning 333 of 593 draws for a rate of 56.2%.

Yet, several players have shorter odds to win the NHL’s MVP award, including MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are both around +700. The current favourite is Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild at -110, followed by McDavid at +310. Draisaitl, who is well back in fifth place alongside Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel at +2500, is not even the Hart Trophy favourite on his own team.

McDavid is having another tremendous campaign: The three-time Hart Trophy recipient ranks fifth in the NHL with 33 assists and sixth with 48 points. But he’s been perhaps a touch less sensational this season than his German teammate.

Draisaitl Has Won MVP Before

Some may have trouble wrapping their head around the notion that McDavid can at once be the face of the league, a generational talent, the foundation that every team would build itself around, and rightly regarded as the greatest player in hockey today, while for a moment not being the NHL’s most valuable player.

This is not without precedent. In 2019-20, Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy after leading the league with 110 points while playing in all 71 of Edmonton’s games. McDavid, who missed seven games, finished second in the NHL with 97 points.

Narrow Gap Between Oilers’ Superstars

Wayne Gretzky played with several future Hall of Famers during his decade in Edmonton, including one that went on to win two Hart Trophies of his own, Mark Messier. But in no season was the identity of Edmonton’s MVP ever in question, so great was the gap between the Great One and everyone else.

The gap between McDavid and Draisaitl is much narrower. That’s not a knock on the former, but rather a compliment to the latter. Draisaitl signed an extension this offseason that will make him the highest-paid player in league history, and now he’s going out and earning it.  The best part for the Oilers is that there is nothing but love between their two superstars. Neither McDavid nor Draisaitl could care so much about the individual honours as they do the Stanley Cup.

Edmonton returns to action at Rogers Place tonight (Dec. 22) when they take on the Ottawa Senators for their final game before Christmas.