Edmonton Oilers: Where does Leon Draisaitl rank among the European greats after seven years?

Mats Sundin

Mats Sundin became the first ever European-born player to be drafted No. 1 overall.

Sundin, was taken at the front of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques and was dealt to Toronto where he would cement his legacy as the greatest Maple Leaf of all time.

In Sundin’s first seven seasons with the Nordiques and the Maple Leafs respectively, the Bromma, Sweden native recorded 558 points (232 G, 326 A). That’s 92 points more than Draisaitl.

And similarly to the Edmonton Oilers’ tandem, the Nordiques had quite the tandem themselves with the likes of Sundin and Canadian legend Joe Sakic gracing the ice. He also had an experienced Stanley Cup winner with Montreal Canadiens icon Guy LaFleur to look up to and another rising star in Owen Nolan.

And when he was traded to the Maple Leafs in 1994 in a six-player deal that involved Wendel Clark, Sundin had the likes of the great Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk and the legendary Mike Gartner, who ranks eighth all time in scoring just behind Ovechkin. In other words, both guys had some help with the scoring here.

If this season was a full 82-game schedule you could make the argument that Draisaitl could have come close to Sundin’s number. This is the anecdote within the comparison that sets Draisaitl back and the worst part of it all is, it is simply out of his control.

There’s no telling he would have surpassed it however. Draisaitl would have needed 137 points in this calendar year to do so and that is unlikely even for a player of his calibre. Mats Sundin is 28th all-time with 1,349 points (564 G, 785 A) in 1,346 games.