In his 10 NHL seasons, Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl has become a top-five NHL player. And in this cover story from THN's June 1, 2020 issue, editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy penned a deep-dive profile on Draisaitl's rise through the ranks:

By Ryan Kennedy

Nothing will get you in the good books of Edmonton Oilers fans faster than going after someone from the Calgary Flames. Leon Draisaitl certainly gave the fans what they wanted prior to the NHL All-Star Game when he proclaimed he didn’t even want to be on the ice at the same time as Matthew Tkachuk, even though both were on the Pacific Division team. Tkachuk, of course, had a running feud going with Oilers heavy Zack Kassian, who caught a two-game suspension for attacking Tkachuk after the Flames agitator had taken several runs at him.

In the early going, it seemed as though Draisaitl would get his wish, as his 3-on-3 all-star linemates were Connor McDavid and relatively nicer Flames star Mark Giordano, while Tkachuk played with Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. But an early line change resulted in Tkachuk and Draisaitl on the ice together, where they completed a devastating give-and-go for a goal. Staying in character, the two didn’t even look at each other to celebrate, though after the game they said they were just having fun.

As amusing as it all was, Draisaitl’s 2019-20 campaign will be remembered for a lot of other highlights. For instance, he was well on his way to his first Art Ross Trophy, which he practically locked up in February when McDavid went down with a quadricep injury. In six games without the Oilers captain, Draisaitl put up 12 points in his buddy’s absence. When the season was put on pause for the COVID-19 pandemic, he held a 13-point lead over McDavid. “You see his confidence has grown and grown as he has played,” McDavid said. “And he has developed into one of the best players in the world.”

Edmonton has seen many heroes pass through its city over the years, and Draisaitl has now joined McDavid as the current flagbearers. Growing up in Cologne, Germany, Draisaitl couldn’t watch NHL games on TV, so he relied on YouTube for clips of Pavel Datsyuk and Maxim Afinogenov to quench his thirst.

The German junior league couldn’t hold Draisaitl, as the 15-year-old went off for 192 points in just 29 games for Mannheim’s under-16 squad, so after one more season in Germany, he left for North America, where the big boys played. Draisaitl went to Prince Albert, Sask., where the WHL’s Raiders made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 import draft (behind future St. Louis Blues center Ivan Barbashev).

It was a match made in heaven, even if there was some culture shock. “It’s a different country, you’re young, and you just follow your dream,” Draisaitl said. “It was something I felt I had to do to become a better player and give myself a shot at playing in the NHL. Culture shock? Absolutely. Especially coming from a decently sized city in Germany to a tiny little town in Saskatchewan. But they took great care of me there and made it feel like home right away. I’m very happy I did that.”

Not only was Draisaitl an impact player for the Raiders, but he made sure to help out in the community, something he has continued to do in Edmonton. “You just want to give something back to them, right?” he said. “They take you in and support you, so if there’s a chance for us as players to give back, you want to jump on it. It’s something I like to do, and it’s the right thing to do.”

Draisaitl wasn’t an instant sensation with the Oilers and came up during a turbulent time in the organization. He was infamously held out of the 2015 world juniors by then-GM Craig MacTavish, only to get sent back to the WHL days after the tournament ended – and Germany getting relegated to a lower division. Draisaitl did get the opportunity to play on a big stage later that season when he was traded from Prince Albert to Kelowna, where he helped the Rockets make it all the way to the Memorial Cup final before ultimately falling in overtime to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals.

It didn’t take too much longer for Draisaitl to become a dangerous NHLer, however. By his third big-league season in 2016-17 he was nearing point-per-game territory, and last season he hit 50 goals and reached the 100-point plateau for the first time.

“You just grow as a player,” Draisaitl said. “When you’re 18 or 19 years old, most guys aren’t established, and you’re not at the top of your game. You try to get better, you work on things you’re not good at and some years you take a bigger jump than other years. But all those jumps combined, they’re all very important, and they make you into the player that you are today.”

There aren’t many NHL players who can claim to be better than Draisaitl today, and that will be proven when he very likely takes home the Hart Trophy for league MVP on top of the Art Ross.

Now, you can make the argument that Draisaitl and McDavid cancel each other out in terms of excellence and that a singular talent such as Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon or the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin fit the criterion better. But Draisaitl was there for the Oilers when McDavid went down and helped keep them on track with sublime performances. That sounds pretty valuable, does it not?

Some pundits have also called into question Draisaitl’s defensive play, but even detractors have admitted he’s gotten better as the season has gone on. The presence of new coach Dave Tippett has been great in that respect. “He’s been awesome,” Draisaitl said. “He gave us a clear structure in how he wants us to play, and we’ve all bought in to that. He has helped us all a lot. The whole coaching staff does a great job of preparing us for games and getting us the information we need.”

Thanks in large part to Draisaitl, the Oilers were also looking at their first playoff berth since 2017, something the city has been fiending for ever since. In the City of Champions, you have to at least get invited to the dance, and the Oilers have been left without a corsage too many times over the past two decades.

Having said that, Draisaitl never got impatient. “No, we’re going in the right direction,” he said. “The past couple of years haven’t been perfect, but sometimes you have to go through that to be successful. We’re going in the right direction, we’re going on the right path. Hopefully we can get better game by game, year by year.”

In the process, Draisaitl has proven that he is not merely McDavid’s linemate. In fact, the two weren’t even playing on the same line anymore, with Draisaitl lining up with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto. Having his own line hasn’t diminished his offensive prowess. “Everybody sees his goals and production, but his vision is elite,” Giordano said. “He can really pass the puck, and he sees the ice really well.”

So far, Western Canada has agreed with Draisaitl. From Prince Albert to Kelowna to Edmonton, he has found success on the ice. Off the ice he’s gotten into country music, something you don’t hear very often back in Germany. And while a lot of country songs are great for drowning your sorrows, Draisaitl has given Oilers fans something to cheer for: the future that just never seemed to come together for the team is all of a sudden looking like a very promising present.