The Edmonton Oilers opened their training camp ahead of the 2025-26 season and things are looking up for the team -- aside from a few storylines.
There are some question marks surrounding their goaltending after general manager Stan Bowman decided against making a major shakeup. Still, the goalies could revert back to old form and have much improved seasons.
There is also the looming contract drama for captain and star player, Connor McDavid who is still without a contract, leaving many to eulogize his time in Edmonton.
Even still, there is plenty of hope in this team. The rookies looked phenomenal coming off of rookie camps and with some added depth in the way of free agent acquisitions from Europe as well as National Hockey League veteran, Andrew Mangiapane.
There is also hope in their star players, as if they could play even better, Leon Draisaitl has said he plans to take even further strides in an element of his game that was lacking at one point. He said to reporters on Friday; "I'd like to be in the Selke conversation at the end of this year,".
Draisaitl is more than just a powerplay merchant
Earlier in his career, Draisaitl was given many labels from 'power play merchant' to 'bad defensively' and in recent years, he has turned those narratives on their heads. He went from consistently scoring nearly 50 percent of his points on the man advantage to that making up only a small part of his points.
In 2022-23, he scored 62 of his 128 points in 80 games on the powerplay whereas in 2023-24 and in 2024-25, only 39/106 and 33/106 points came on the man advantage respectively. This is a big drop going from over 48 percent of his points on the powerplay to well under 40 percent for two straight seasons.
He has improved his defensive play
The bad defensive label completely went out the window this year when he finished sixth in Selke Trophy voting for 2025. For context, the highest he has ever finished in Selke voting was 13th in 2020-21. He has never been recognized for this part of the game but he has already made strides to change this and seems to want to move even further in that direction.
Draisaitl has seen improvements in his defensive metrics according to evolving-hockey.com. Between 2023-24 and 2024-25 alone he saw drastic positive change in metrics like goals against, corsi against, fenwick against, and expected goals against.
These are typically not flukes, especially not when a player of Draisaitl's calibre has a stated goal of making strides in this area of his game.
Draisaitl will add a Selke to his trophy cabinet
Elite athletes at the NHL level are undoubtedly incredibly driven and motivated individuals, you cannot get to this level of any skill and not be. However, Draisaitl and players of his calibre are a different beast and when he says he wants to commit to this, the entire league should be put on notice.
He already has a trophy case fit for a Hall of Fame player with a Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, Rocket Richard Trophy, and soon he will have a Frank J. Selke Trophy to add as well -- hopefully a Stanley Cup ring to boot.
He has the right mindset on it too, speaking with reporters saying “With age, I think you just learn that other parts of the game are actually just as much fun as scoring and assists and all those things. Stripping someone and playing good defence is a lot of fun too – a lot of work, but a lot of fun.”
If his defensive play this past season is any indication, Draisaitl may go from the league's best goal scorer to the league's best defensive forward in just one year.