April 17, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Leon Draisaitl finished second to new all-time NHL goals leader Alexander Ovechkin by one goal in the 2018-19 season, which was the first time Draisaitl scored 50 goals in his career. He also finished second to Auston Matthews in the goals race when Matthews put up 60 goals compared to Draisaitl’s 55 goals in 2021-22. His 52 goals in 2022-23 were only bested by MIkko Rantanen (55), David Pastrnak (61), and teammate Connnor McDavid (64).

Related: Ovechkin becomes NHL’s all-time goals leader

This season, Draisaitl finished second to nobody. Draisaitl is the winner of the 2024-25 “Rocket” Richard Trophy. His 52 goals were seven more than anyone else scored, and he only played in 71 games. Draisaitl finished second in the league in even strength goals (36) and powerplay goals (16) on his way to his fourth career 50-goal season. The German superstar finished tied for the league lead in game-winning goals (11) and in overtime goals (6). The latter is an all-time single season record. He likely would’ve led in all those categories had he not been injured at the end of the season. Draisaitl also finished third in the league in points (106).

This is Draisaitl’s first “Rocket” Richard Trophy. He can now add this accomplishment to his Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and Art Ross Trophy from the 2019-20 season. Draisaitl is the second Oiler to win the Rocket Richard Trophy since the NHL began awarding it in 1998-99. McDavid won it in 2022. Notably, Wayne Gretzky led the NHL in goals five times (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987), but the league did not have an award for the top goal scorer during those seasons. Draisaitl is also the frist German born player to win the “Rocket” Richard Trophy and to lead the NHL in goal scoring in a single season.

Draisaitl was having another MVP caliber season before he was injured. He was taken down awkwardly against the Utah Hockey Club on March 18, and he missed four games as a result. He came back against the Calgary Flames on March 29. Fittingly, Draisaitl’s 50th goal of the season tied that game with 3:12 left in the third period, and he capped the comeback in overtime with his 51st goal of the season.

Draisaitl played just two and a half games before leaving halfway through the game in San Jose on April 3 after taking two awkward falls. He did not play in the team’s final seven games of the season, but he is expected to be back in the lineup when the Oilers face the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of their first round series on Monday night.

Missing those eleven games down the stretch likely put him out of the running for the Hart Trophy this season unfortunately. Nikita Kucherov (121) won the Art Ross Trophy by five points over Nathan Mackinnon (116). Kucherov’s points per game average was the highest in the league, but Draisaitl’s was higher than MacKinnon’s. Draisaitl’s case for the Hart Trophy would’ve been stronger if he had caught MacKinnon in the points race, but he ultimately finished ten points back of MacKinnon. 

Connor Hellebuyck finished with a .925 save percentage (just 0.01 behind Anthony Stolarz for the highest with more than twelve games played) and a ridiculous 2.00 goals against average (best among goalies with over twelve games played). He also led the league in wins by nine with 47, and in shutouts (8). He also became the first goalie to win the William Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the goaltending tandem that allows the fewest goals in the league, on his own for the second consecutive year. He has won the trophy on his own the last two seasons because a goalie needs to play in at least 25 games to qualify for the award, and no other Winnipeg Jets goaltender played enough games to qualify. He led the Jets to their first President’s Trophy and their first division title this season. Goalies don’t usually win the Hart Trophy, but if there was ever a year for it to happen, this would be it.

One could argue that Autson Matthews won the Hart Trophy based on his winning the Rocket Richard Trophy by five goals in 2022, so Draisaitl should win it this year for winning the goals race by seven goals while only playing 71 games; but Matthews paired that with becoming the first player to score 60 goals in a single season since Steven Stamkos did it in 2011-12. Matthews did not win the Hart Trophy last season when he scored 69 goals and won the Rocket Richard Trophy by an astonishing twelve goals either.

Draisaitl deserves to be commended on an incredible season though. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch benched Draisaitl for a shift during the team’s fourth game of the season on October 15, 2024 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Draisaitl responded by assisting on the game-tying goal and scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. That ignited a season-long hot streak. 

McDavid missed fifteen games this season. Draisaitl was also out for six of those fifteen games. In the other nine games that McDavid missed and Draisaitl played, Draisaitl put up sixteen points. His points per game average throughout the season was 1.49, and it rose to 1.78 in the nine games where he played without McDavid. Draisaitl stepped up when his team needed him most this season, and he was consistently fantastic throughout the season. Draisaitl might win the Hart Trophy, but he was the most valuable player for the Oilers this season.

The last piece that the late Bruce McCurdy wrote for The Cult of Hockey before his recent and tragic passing was entitled “Who is the NHL’s deadliest dual scoring threat? It’s definitely Draisaitl”. McCurdy had these words to say about Draisaitl: 

“There may be better pure goal scorers elsewhere in the game — though damn few of them. There may be better playmakers, though that list too would be vanishingly short. But when it comes to players who are equally adept at both, Leon Draisaitl is the bomb.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, Bruce.