As always, it’s that time of the week where we can all sit down together as a Nation and learn a little something about hockey and life in general. As always, I’ve sent your questions to our panel of esteemed writers and waited for the worldly wisdoms that would get sent back. If you have a question for the mailbag, you can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Enjoy.

My comparable was the Tarasenko deal ($7.5 million) and it was signed two years ago. I think Leon Draisaitl did very well and the Oilers paid in full plus a little. I’m not convinced it is the end of the world, in fact overpaying Draisaitl now may benefit the team by year four of the contract. It’s a risk like anything else, and you would have liked an extra season, but that was lost when then general manager Craig MacTavish thought it wise to burn a season. I’m pleased Draisaitl is signed for eight seasons.

Fine with it. Two best players locked up and price certainty. Can now make caps decisions accordingly.

Yes and no; it really depends on whether the NHL-wide value on second contracts has altered. Compared to other players in the same situation over the last few years, Leon Draisaitl’s cap hit is unarguably an overpayment. Edmonton bought five years of restricted free agency and only three years of unrestricted free agency and did it while paying what historically is more than top dollar. But we’ve also seen indications that the market for players in this position is resetting – Connor McDavid did some of it, and when you look at the rumoured asks of players like Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel (though I think the consensus at this point is both are superior talents to Draisaitl) – it may just be that this class of player is going to get paid more.

I think it’s a lot of money but at the end of the day, my happiness for Draisaitl being signed for eight years, and the future of this team overtakes the possibility of an overpayment. 9/10!

At first I thought he was going to land somewhere in the Tarasenko range. Then I thought the Ryan Johanson deal, and having Nashville buy more UFA years than the Oilers did for Draisaitl, was going to keep things at $8 million or a shade under that, but that clearly did not happen. In the end, I learned that I don’t know Jack about contract negotiations.

I think he is unproven as a center playing against tough opposition. That’s the one thing we should be looking for in the coming year, Leon outscoring quality opposition and winning the possession battle away from Connor McDavid.

The best players never stop trying to improve all aspects of their game, even marginally. That’s the task.

What I’m looking for from Draisaitl is the ability to drive results as the lead player, at centre, on his own line. Mostly last year we saw what he could do as Connor McDavid’s right wing. Now that he’s making $8.5 million, he’s really too expensive to be riding shotgun for the NHL’s best player. Edmonton’s Cup hopes are going to depend to a large degree on whether Draisaitl can do for McDavid what Evgeni Malkin does for Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane does for Jonathan Toews.

He needs to be able to do everything away from 97. To be worth $8.5M he needs to be picking up 75+ points a season as the 2C of the Oilers.

He just needs to make sure he puts up points on a regular basis. Consistency will be the key to his eight years here.

Leon needs to prove that he can play centre at the level that he plays on the wings. Over the past couple years, Drai has played with Taylor Hall and Connor McDavid a lot and I want to know that he can handle things on his own. If the playoffs were any indication I wouldn’t bet against him.

It depends on a lot of things, but my guess is Nuge is the guy if Ryan Strome can successfully play center and score enough to help. Nuge makes big dollars and doesn’t have a NMC. That makes him an obvious choice. We’ll see, perhaps Kris Russell or Andrej Sekera asked to waive their NMC’s. Don’t think so, though, looks like it’s Nuge.

There are no foregone conclusions. If Draisaitl plays centre then RNH will be paid too much for a third-line centre. If RNH can move to wing in the top six he has a chance to stay.

There are some. Nugent-Hopkins is the logical trade candidate, but if you can move Andrej Sekera or Kris Russell next summer maybe Nugent-Hopkins can continue to play a role for Edmonton.

Oh yeah. He’s a goner. Is almost cruel to keep him around at all. Trades that make more sense? Trade Lucic and Russell immediately. It won’t ever happen though. Who’s the next equivalent to Ryan Strome? Lawson Crouse? RNH for Crouse sounds about par for the course. Set your sights there.

Sadly. I think the only way Nuge stays is if he is successful on the wing. We won’t be able to pay our third line centre $6 mill per year so unless he takes a pay cut, goodbye Nuge. 🙁

This bums me out because I know it’s going to be Nuge that gets traded. With Maroon, Benning, and Nurse all needing contracts next summer it seems like the writing is on the wall. Unless the Oilers decide that they want to get rid of someone like Sekera instead (doubtful) then it will be my beloved Nuge that gets moved. Sad.

I think it will be fairly quiet now, probably until the trade deadline.

I don’t see any need to dip into the free agent market beyond minor league depth.

More or less, yes. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a veteran body or two brought in for training camp (someone like Jared Cowan or Dennis Wideman on defence, or a Brandon Pirri up front) but I expect they’re done handing out guaranteed contracts.

Sign Jagr. Do it. DO IT. Yeah, Chia’s done.

I still would love to see Jagr in an Oilers uniform by the end of the summer but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think Chia is actively looking for another aquisition (maybe a backup goalie) but I’m sure his phone is open for any potential offers.

I would still like to see Chiarelli pick up a vet like Jagr or Iginla on a cheap one-year deal but I doubt it happens anymore. He’ll probably want that cap space for a playoff push at the deadline.

First job or first job after finishing school? First job was picking apples for my Grandpa, he paid me well and I got to feed his big horse Tom (Tom loved apples). First job after broadcast school was CJOI in Wetaskiwin, where I spent all of my money on beer singing along to Laura Vinson at the Drill Hall. Loved it!

Paper route. Bought Pez.

Ignoring paper routes and various other odd jobs, my first job was with Dairy Queen. The very first thing I bought was a Koho Hockey hoodie.

First real job was at Panagopolous Pizza. I think I bought CD’s, which you may recall were roughly $20 a pop back in the day. It was a cool place to work because the manager was a bit of a creep show and hired attractive girls mostly. Also, I ate all the pizzas we “screwed up” on.

LOL. I actually started my own pet care business when I was like 12 or something. Hung up flyers all over town. I never spent my money on anything wild when I was younger, just normal childhood activities like going to the movies and junk.

The first time I ever really made any money was selling lemonade at a town wide garage sale in Morinville when I was about 10. A friend and I were moving units and spent all of that sweet juice money on candy and copies of the SI Swimsuit edition. My first actual job was working at my sister’s Radio Shack selling parts and electronics when I was 14-years-old or so. Any money I got from that tended to go to skateboarding, teenage drinking and saving up for my first laptop.

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