Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl. Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Is Oilers' Leon Draisaitl underrated?

Originally posted on Daily Faceoff | By Cam Lewis | Last updated 12/14/22

Matt Larkin : “Leon Draisaitl is now unofficially the Mayor of Smashville. He had five points against the Preds on Tuesday, and he now has 10 points in his last two against Nashville and 16 goals and 26 points in his last eight games. That’s a double-take stat if there ever was one.

What is it about the Nashville Predators? Is this a fluke or does he have their number for a specific reason?”

Steven Ellis: “I feel like Draisaitl has played in Connor McDavid’s shadow, kind of like Evgeni Malkin did with Sidney Crosby. And then Nathan MacKinnon shows up, and Auston Matthews shows up, so Draisaitl is a guy who hasn’t gotten the love that he deserves from the entire league.

We’re looking at Matthews, who many consider to be the best goal-scorer, but Draisaitl is either ahead of him or right near him in terms of the goal-scoring race. That’s how good of a player he is. He’s good without McDavid and he’s good on McDavid’s wing. He can play with anybody. If he’s your second center, which other teams can match that?

Draisaitl would be getting much more attention if he was playing in a market without Connor McDavid.”

Matt Larkin: “There’s a real parallel to Evgeni Malkin’s career. Malkin had the MVP season the year that Sidney Crosby was hurt, same thing happened with Leon Draisaitl a couple of years ago when McDavid missed a few games due to injury.

In 2017, Malkin was left off of that NHL Top 100 players list, which to me is still egregious, and it was always as if he was just considered the second fiddle. It happens to Leon Draisaitl as well.”