Oilers waited to release Draisaitl news in the wake of Johnny Gaudreau's death

The Oilers have officially signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight year contract extension worth $14 million per season.

"This is an historic day for the Edmonton Oilers," said Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Stan Bowman in a prepared statement. "Leon's commitment to our team, our city and Oilers fans everywhere cannot be overstated. His desire to help bring a Stanley Cup title home to Edmonton is central to everything he does both on and off the ice."

According to NHL insider Andy Stickland, Draisaitl and the Oilers had an agreement in place late last week, but they pushed their public announcement until this week in order to let the hockey world properly grieve the death of former Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau.

From Strickland:

A classy move by both Draisaitl and the Oilers organization. With all of the mourning that has played out over the entire hockey world, I don't think too many people have been in the mood to celebrate a contract extension. Again, total class from the Oilers.

Both Draisaitl and Bowman will meet with the media at 11:30am MT.

Read below for our earlier report, published as events occurred.

According to a late night report yesterday evening from Edmonton Oilers insider Joshua Marshall of the '2 Mutts Hockey Podcast', the Oilers are reportedly set to sign superstar forward Leon Draisaitl to an eight year contract extension worth $14 million per season.

Check it out:

Just last week NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that the Edmonton Oilers and superstar forward Leon Draisaitl are far apart in contract extension negotiations. You have to imagine that both sides are in agreement on a long-term deal, but Seravalli reported that the two sides are far apart on total dollars and annual average value.

It's also worth noting that Marshall reports that Draisaitl will not sign a contract once the 2024-25 season starts.

"Leon Draisaitl is scheduled to be in Edmonton within the next couple of days," Marshall reported yesterday. "This was a week that was very important to get this done. Talks will pick up as him & Stan Bowman will meet in person."

"If there is no deal to be signed before September 19th, Leon won’t negotiate during the season. The goal is to get this done before that date as Leon doesn’t want this to be a problem or a distraction going into training camp."

Stay tuned for confirmation of today's rumor.