Leon Draisaitl remains 'very confident' for Round 1 clash against LA Kings amidst growing concerns over Oilers' chances

Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers are preparing to face the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Edmonton has won all three of its previous postseason matchups with LA in seven, six, and five games, respectively. However, this time around feels like it could be the Kings' best opportunity to finally slay the dragon and eliminate the Oilers.

A plethora of injuries to key players heading into the playoffs, combined with goaltending concerns, has many predicting that LA will advance to round two. But this is the Edmonton Oilers we're talking about, and they still have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who remain confident in their team heading into this first-round series.

Draisaitl expressed that confidence during his media availability on Sunday afternoon. The Edmonton Oilers shared the video of his comments on X (formerly Twitter).

"Yeah. Very confident. I mean, we just had another 100-point season with a lot of injuries to deal with over the last little bit here. And, you know, we hung in there, and different guys stepping up, which is a great sign. So, we're very confident in our group, we know what we have. Just, yeah, excited to get going here," Draisaitl said.

Leon Draisaitl is in the final season of the eight-year, $68,000,000 contract he signed with the Oilers back in 2017. His massive eight-year, $112,000,000 extension signed prior to this season to remain in Edmonton will kick in to begin the 2025-26 campaign.

Leon Draisaitl had another all-world season in 2024-25

Despite some late-season injury issues, Leon Draisaitl was among the NHL's best this year.

The 29-year-old produced 106 points (52 goals, 54 assists) in just 71 games in 2024-25. He finished in a tie for third in league point scoring with David Pastrnak (106 points), which ranked behind only Nikita Kucherov (121 points) and Nathan MacKinnon (116 points). Draisaitl also won his first career Rocket Richard Trophy, lapping the field from start to finish even while missing 11 games.

Leon Draisaitl is known to be one of the best playoff performers of all time, and the Oilers will need that to overcome all of their injuries and beat the Los Angeles Kings. He's expected to start the series on the second line, centering wingers Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin.

The Oilers and Kings start their series on Monday night, as Game 1 will go down in Los Angeles. The puck drops at 10 p.m. EST at Crypto.com Arena.

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Edited by Jackson Weber