By all accounts, that should’ve been Leon Draisaitl’s Hart Trophy this season.

The Deutschland Dangler had about as good of a season as anyone could ask for in 2025-26, racking up 52 goals and 106 points in 70 games played, winning his first career Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s leading goal-scorer.

It wasn’t just about the volume of the goals he scored, but how he scored them. Known for his prowess on the power play in recent years, he scored just 16 with the man advantage this year — his lowest in a full-season since 2018-19 and 2019-20 when he had scored the same amount. That means he made up for it with 36 goals at even-strength, the second most in the league. Though his own power play goal numbers were down from what we’ve seen in recent years, it was one behind Jake Guentzel, who led the league with 17.

Draisaitl didn’t just run away with the Richard Trophy this year, he nearly lapped the field. His 52 goals were seven more than the second placed William Nylander, and after began being tied for the league in goals on Dec. 5th, 2024, he never looked back. Just 11 days later he gain sole possession, and held onto it through the length of the season.

For Draisaitl, however, it’s not just his goal scoring that landed up as the Hart Trophy runner-up and should’ve been winner: it was his defensive game, too. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Oilers allowed 50.4 shot attempts against per hour, 24.8 scoring chances against per hour and 9.7 high-danger scoring chances against per hour — all marks that were career-bests for Draisaitl. There were just 2.3 goals against per hour and 2.4 expected goals against per hour, both numbers which were the second lowest in his career.

Those numbers are part of the reason why he finished sixth in Selke Trophy voting — the highest of his career — this year as the league’s best defensive forward.

Anytime Draisaitl stepped onto the ice, he dominated, driving offence at a 15 percent rate above league average, defence at a league average rate and work on the power play at a four percent rate above league average, according to Hockey Viz. His overall contributions double that of an average first-line player.

His game remained at a high level in the playoffs, too, finishing tied for second in goal scoring and tied for third in terms of points, and the Oilers continued to tilt the ice in a significantly favourable way.

The Hart Trophy would go to Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck, who had a tremendous season also taking home the Vezina Trophy. What cost Draisaitl is likely the fact he played just 70 games this season, but there’s no denying that the Oilers got tremendous value from the final year of his eight-year, $8.5-million AAV contract.

And heading into next year when that climbs to $14-million, he’ll still be great value.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.