If there’s one thing I know about myself it’s that I can’t stay mad at the Oilers for very long. After what can only be described as another long and trying season, I told myself that I wouldn’t miss the team this early and that I wouldn’t go crawling back, but after only two months apart, I already found myself with an itch that needed to be scratched. That’s where this 20 minute compilation of all 50 of Leon Draisaitl’s goals from the 2018-19 season came in.

I want to start this article off by taking a quick minute to laugh about the shit show that came up after Leon Draisaitl signed his eight-year extension a couple of years ago. Do you remember? I certainly do. I remember fans from all around the league, some Oilers fans included, complaining about how big of an overpay it was to give the guy $8.5 million over eight years. It seems like a weird argument now that he’s turned into a 100-point player. To be fair, Peter Chiarelli will never be accused of being a ruthless negotiator and Leon’s contract is probably a shade high from where a competent GM could have landed, but that’s water under the bridge at this point so there’s no point in rehashing that now. In the here and now, Leon Draisaitl is one of only two players to score 50 goals and that’s a feat we haven’t seen around these parts in a long time, and I wanted to take a few minutes to celebrate the accomplishment.

Before Leon’s miraculous heater, the Oilers hadn’t had a 50-goal scorer on the roster since the late 80s, which makes the year Draisaitl had all the more impressive. From the start of the season until the very end, Leon consistently put the puck in the back of the net and it was a lot of fun to through everything and relive those moments without having to suffer through any of the losses. To go a step further, Draisaitl scored so many different flavours of goals this year that rewatching all of them in one place was a nice little trip down memory lane and it got me all kinds of excited for the 2019-20 season to get started. From start to finish, this compilation by All NHL Goals was as entertaining as it was effective in scratching my itch for Oilers highlights, and it really was a good way to spend 20 minutes of my Sunday.

After watching this compilation a couple of times, I thought I would be able to pick out a favourite goal but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Leon scored so many different types of goals this year that choosing only one or two was nearly impossible. There were a few coast-to-coast rushes that he was able to finish off that I really loved, including a wonderful dangle against LA at about the 16-minute mark, as well as the seemingly countless times he set up in his office near the goal line for a one-timer that you really got a sense of how dominant a player he’s becoming. We all know that Draisaitl is an elite passer and setup man, but if he can keep developing his ability to fill the back of the net then he could go on to be one of the league’s most dominant threats. Regardless of what happens in the future, I had a great time watching these highlights again and I thought it was a good thing to pass on, especially as we get through the slow news days leading up to the NHL Draft.

Have a favourite goal? Let me know in the comments section.