Leon Draisaitl Makes Blunt Admission About 'Older' Oilers
Leon Draisaitl Makes Blunt Admission About 'Older' Oilers originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl didn't point fingers during the end-of-season media availability, but subtly demanded a slight retool of the team's roster if they want to get over the hump.
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Draisaitl made his stance clear on Thursday, saying the Oilers don't need a rebuild, but rather a refresh and to bring in some younger legs.
"Our core is probably in the prime right now in terms of maturity and experiences and all those things," Draisaitl said. "So we're an older team. Do we need to get a little bit younger? A little bit faster? Maybe.
"But I think our core group is at an age where we got a lot of juice left, so hopefully we can continue to kick away at it."
The Oilers' second consecutive loss in the Stanley Cup Final — both to the Florida Panthers — brought back questions about the team's roster and how it's built around Draisaitl and fellow superstar Connor McDavid.
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Draisaitl, who led the NHL with 52 goals this season and added 33 points in 22 playoff games, is still producing at an elite level. So is McDavid, who notched 33 points in 22 postseason games.
Oilers celebrate a goal scored by forward Leon Draisaitl (29).Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
The veteran forward seemed to caution the front office against simply running it back next season after their consecutive failures on the biggest stage.
"I think that we probably just made it a little bit too easy for them, especially the last couple of games," Draisaitl said. "There's a couple mistakes that we made that we didn't get from them, you know, it was never that easy so, yeah, something to learn for sure."
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Related: Connor McDavid Doesn't Hesitate to Point Out Oilers' Mistake in Stanley Cup Loss
Related: Connor McDavid Makes Clear Statement About Oilers After Stanley Cup Loss
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
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