Leon Draisaitl has already cleared everything in the NHL, only the big prize, the Stanley Cup, is still missing. He's been in impressive early form with the Edmonton Oilers this season. "Everything is nice," he says, but he wants a lot more.
After another ice hockey gala, Leon Draisaitl looked beyond the entertaining evening. "We're here to win the championship, to look at the big picture," said the German NHL superstar after his Edmonton Oilers' spectacular 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators, to which he added one goal and four assists had contributed.
"We had our awards," said the 27-year-old, who, together with his congenial partner Connor McDavid, has won numerous personal trophies in recent years, "it's all nice, we're proud of it, but we want the big prize." After the semifinals last season, the Stanley Cup, the first for Edmonton since 1990, is more than ever the goal.
The Oilers are the third-best team in the NHL after five straight wins. "We're finding our game," said Draisaitl, who already has 21 points after ten games - just one point less than McDavid. The Cologne native was already the king of scorers, as were MVP and Germany's sportsman of the year. Although he had five points in a game for the fifth time in his career, this time Evander Kane stole the show with three goals.
Draisaitl did the preliminary work for all three and when asked why he didn't play primarily for McDavid this time, he answered with a laugh: "Connor already has enough hat-tricks." The controversial Kane, who was banned from the NHL a year ago because of a fake vaccination card and fired for violating the corona measures in San Jose, has been an enormous sporting reinforcement for Edmonton since moving in January. "That's why I'm here," said the 31-year-old, adding, referring to his prominent colleagues: "They are the best players in the world."
(This article was first published on Wednesday, November 02, 2022.)
