Leon Draisaitl is with the Edmonton Oilers eliminated in the playoffs of the North American professional ice hockey league NHL and could now theoretically travel to Finland for the World Cup. In game six of the series against the Vegas Golden Knights the Oilers lost 2-5.
The team from Las Vegas advanced to the finals with the fourth win Western Conference and meets there on the Seattle Kraken around national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer or the Dallas Stars. In this series it is 3:3.
For the Oilers around Draisaitl and Connor McDavid the season ends before the Stanley Cup finals. In the most important home game of the season, the hosts turned an early deficit into a 2-1 lead in the first three minutes, but then conceded a hat-trick from Vegas pro Jonathan Marchessault in the second period. In the final minute, William Karlsson scored into the empty Oilers goal.
self critical Words from the native of Cologne
Draisaitl remained without a goal and ended the playoffs with 18 points. With 13 goals, he is clearly the top scorer in the playoffs. “It hurts. It’s hard to find straight words”said the native of Cologne.
“When you go into a season to win it and then you don’t make it, it feels like a failure and a year wasted.” Everyone must now “do everything”, so as not to have to experience this feeling again. The 27-year-old was critical of his own performance: “I wasn’t good today.”
Will the national team become an issue?
Should Draisaitl decide to travel to Finland and want to help select the German Ice Hockey Federation, he would probably not be available until the end of the week. When asked about this scenario, sports director Christian Künast recently emphasized after the 3: 4 against Finland: “It would always be worth it. A Leon Draisaitl would also be worth a game.”
The DEB sports director also did not rule out a World Cup participation by goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer, who is still fighting with Seattle for a place in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. The DEB has so far left two squad places open at the World Cup.