‘Leon is a happy client’
Ottawa's Andy Scott played a key role in helping Draisaitl score a big deal with Oilers
That little cheer heard in Ottawa on Tuesday morning when Leon Draisaitl's massive contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers was confirmed came from the offices of the Scott Law group on Carling Ave.
Draisaitl, 28, signed the secondlargest overall deal in National Hockey League history when he agreed to an eight-year, $112-million US contract to stay with the Oilers. With an average annual value of $14 million per season, it carries the largest salary in NHL history.
Yes, winger Alexander Ovechkin signed a 13-year contract worth $124 million with the Washington Capitals in 2008, but that carried a $9 million AAV.
Not only does Drasaitl's deal serve notice he wants to finish his career with the Oilers, it also is a big step in keeping last year's Stanley Cup finalists together. Next up is superstar centre Connor Mcdavid, but that's a topic for another day and Draisaitl is in the spotlight right now.
If you're wondering why anybody here would be happy the Oilers held onto one of their core pieces, then look no further than Draisaitl's Ottawa-based agent Andy Scott, who partnered with Detroit-based agent and former NHL goalie Mike Liut, who is the co-managing director of Octagon Hockey along with Allan Walsh of Los Angeles .
“There's no doubt the Oilers brass are happy, the owner (Darryl Katz) is ecstatic from my understanding, the fans are excited and most important thing from our standpoint is that Leon is a happy client,” Scott said in an interview Thursday.
Liut first started work on the file with Scott more than a year ago. Draisaitl was two years away from unrestricted free agency then, but the group wanted to determine what route to take.
First and foremost, they wanted to know what Draisaitl's wishes were and he made it clear to Scott and Liut that he wanted to stay in Edmonton. The club's No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL draft is bound and determined to help the Oilers bring the Stanley Cup back to the city.
“We've been working with Leon through his whole career so you anticipate that Edmonton will want to do an extension so we started talking to him about this a year ago,” Scott said. “We had to talk to Leon about what his options are, where he wants to be and where he wants to spend the rest of his career.
“He was concerned about, and what was important to him, was his legacy and he certainly has a priority on winning the Cup. He wanted to do that in Edmonton. He enjoys playing in a hockey market. It truly always was Edmonton in his mind and it was just finding a way to get it done.”
Before talks with Jeff Jackson, the club's president of hockey operations, and newly appointed general manager Stan Bowman started this summer, Liut and Scott did a lot of groundwork on where the salary cap is headed.
Because of COVID-19, members of the NHL Players' Association were forced to repay a debt to the owners that limited the increase of the cap. That is now off the table and the salary cap went up 5% to
$88 million this season and could be as high as $93 million in 2025-26.
“We expect that when the current extension to the CBA expires in 2026 the salary cap should increase significantly over the following years to catch up, starting at over
100 (million) for 2026-27 season,” Scott said. “Many of the discussions were on where the cap is going to go and the business side.”
The math is hard to follow, but the reality is it plays an important role in finding common ground on a new deal.
Scott, Liut, Jackson and Bowman met for the first time at the Marriott in Toronto on Aug. 1 to begin discussions. Both sides agreed they wanted to talk about an eight-year contract so that was the easy part, most of the talks were about AAV and the structure.
“Stan made it a priority to meet with us after he was named to get the ball rolling,” Scott said. “It didn't take a long time to get this done.”
Three weeks ago, both reached a number that they were comfortable with at $14 million per season and that's a lot of money, but Draisaitl could have gotten more as a UFA next July. Much of the salary is based on $100 million in bonus cash, which means it's paid out before the season.
That was something they analyzed closely while doing the deal.
“We educated Leon throughout this process and he knew the market as well as we did,” Scott said. “He ultimately made the decision to take the number even though he could have gotten more (on the open market). That's the reality, but the priority for him is being part of a team that will be competitive for a long time.
“He understood that he needed to take less than what we considered to be his market value in order to make that happen.”
The reality is everybody is happy and Draisaitl can head into this season without any uncertainty or concerns about his future.
“The timing was important. Leon didn't want this to be a distraction coming into camp and it was good to get it done,” Scott said.