Elias Lindholm, Steven Stamkos and Max Domi are good centers. Assuming they reach free agency on July 1, the Boston Bruins could sign any of the three. With their need up the middle and $20-plus million in available cash — even more if they trade Linus Ullmark — the Bruins could make it worth their while.
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But if the Bruins wait a little more than 13 months, they could pursue a center who’s great.
Leon Draisaitl is one of the four best pivots in the league. Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon occupy the top tier. Draisaitl and Auston Matthews are right behind.
What distinguishes Draisaitl from his peers is that he has one season remaining on his contract, an eight-year, $68 million deal. He is the closest of the cohort to becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Draisaitl is critical to the Edmonton Oilers’ postseason success. He is eight wins away from becoming a Stanley Cup champion. The Oilers will do everything to keep the left-shot center from going anywhere. They will have little choice but to make him the NHL’s highest-paid player. Matthews ($13.25 million average annual value) currently owns that title.
But by definition of the open market, Draisaitl would maximize his earnings by expanding his list to 31 dreamers instead of one. If the Bruins watch their pennies, they would be one of the parties with the financial freedom to meet Draisaitl’s price.
That is, if Draisaitl even becomes available.
Draisaitl’s future may depend upon the Oilers’ fate against the Dallas Stars — and beyond. He may find that winning one ring and chasing another is his priority. Any team with McDavid and Draisaitl in their primes is optimally designed for repeated runs.
But Edmonton is Edmonton. In terms of lifestyle, he wouldn’t be the first NHL player to turn his gaze away from Alberta. And if a different address becomes a priority, the Bruins not only have the means to afford him, but the need.
Morgan Geekie was an excellent signing. It is no insult to Geekie, however, to say that he is no Draisaitl. Geekie may have finished Round 2 as the No. 1 center between Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak. But it is not the ideal permanent residence for the right-shot Geekie (39 points in 2023-24).
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“I’m sure a lot of people didn’t think I’d be there,” Geekie said. “I don’t know if anyone did. It’s one of those things where you dream of those sort of things and be able to do it. I did my best.”
Geekie, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha met their employer’s ask in 2023-24. Same with Matt Poitras before the player and team concluded that shoulder surgery would be best all around.
But they are not McDavid, Draisaitl, Wyatt Johnston, Aleksander Barkov or Mika Zibanejad, centers who are still playing. Barkov did a number on the Bruins at both ends of the rink.
“Great player, two-way center,” Zacha said. “For me, it was exciting I could play against him, seeing how good he is in that role and taking away something in his game that I can build into mine.”
Geekie (25 years old), Coyle (32) and Zacha (27) are not expected to bust the 100-point threshold. Maybe that is in the 20-year-old Poitras’ future, but it is impossible to project that with any certainty.
Draisaitl has scored 100-plus points five times. He will be 29 when his deal expires.
If the Oilers can’t extend Draisaitl, they will not be satisfied to see him walk for nothing. The ask would be astronomical, perhaps even beyond what the Bruins could offer.
But the Oilers would not trade Draisaitl if they’re in Cup contention again in 2024-25, just like the Bruins did not consider dealing Pastrnak in 2022-23 before he signed his eight-year, $90 million contract.
Draisaitl would check all of the Bruins’ boxes. He could play on the No. 1 line with Pastrnak, his good friend. He would play in the bumper on the No. 1 power-play unit. The Oilers have scored on 37.5 percent of their postseason power plays, partly because Draisaitl is one of two players (Stamkos being the other) who can bury below-the-dot shots. Penalty kills have yet to design a solution to Stamkos’ and Draisaitl’s striking ability.
Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak (center) are good friends. Could they become teammates? (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
“If you’re the defender there, your space awareness is that one-timer is going to be in a certain area. But it’s not,” ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said of their bad-angle gifts. “When they hit the net and score from a foot above the goal line, that shouldn’t be. It’s too hard. You would never think to deny that. Except you kind of have to do that too. Those two guys shoot the one-timer very similarly. Draisaitl doesn’t have the big windup. But the variance of the angle, it’s really a tough thing to defend and get your sticks in the right space. Because you think he’s at the dot. But then it’s, ‘Oh, wait a minute, he’s eight feet deeper.’”
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The Bruins, then, could keep their 2024 offseason powder relatively dry. They could re-sign Jeremy Swayman and practice budget additions elsewhere in anticipation of pursuing Draisaitl next summer.
It would be a roll of the dice. General manager Don Sweeney would need a good idea that Draisaitl will be available.
But Draisaitl is a game-changing center. The Bruins need one in a big way.
(Top photo of Leon Draisaitl: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
Fluto Shinzawa is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Bruins. He has covered the team since 2006, formerly as a staff writer for The Boston Globe. Follow Fluto on Twitter @flutoshinzawa
