It was only a matter of time before one of the league’s best goal scorers secured his first Rocket Richard Trophy and on Thursday night it became official: Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl will take home the award after scoring 52 goals this season.
Draisaitl did it impressively this year, as the only player to hit the 50-goal mark — a season after four players did so, including teammate Zach Hyman — while not leading in either even-strength goals, or power play goals.
He, however, found just the right blend, as his 36 even-strength goals and 16 power-play markers combined for the most in the league. He fell one even-strength goal behind Tage Thompson and one power play goal behind Jake Guentzel.
Draisaitl truly ran away with the award this season, sitting seven goals up on the second-placed William Nylander, and leading the league in goals every day since Dec. 5th, sitting outright in first place since Dec. 16th. He put up 23 goals in 31 games over that stretch, before scoring 29 goals in his final 39 games of the season, averaging 0.74 goals per game over each stretch.
This season marks the first in which Draisaitl took home the hardware in his fourth 50-goal campaign. The first year he hit 50, 2018-19, he was one goal away from the league-leading Alex Ovechkin, while his 55 in 2021-22 were five behind the league-leading Auston Matthews, finishing runner up both year. In 2022-23, meanwhile, his 52 goals were fourth in the league behind Mikko Rantanen (55), David Pastrnak (61) and Connor McDavid (64).
As noted by Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis, this year marks the first time only one player scored 50 goals in a season since Alex Ovechkin did it in three straight between 2013-14 to 2015-16.
Draisaitl becomes the second player in Oilers history to win the Rocket Richard Trophy, following McDavid, since the award was introduced in 1998-99. Despite that, two Oilers had previously led the league in goals: Wayne Gretzky, who did it five times, his most recent in 1986-87, and Jari Kurri, who did so in 1985-86.
Prior to the Rocket Richard, Draisaitl has also won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay award, all of which were won in 2019-20.
There’s no denying how significant of a season this was for Draisaitl as McDavid wasn’t up to his usual otherwordly antics. Draisaitl was a model of consistency for the team, not just offensively, but defensively, too, where his game has continued to grow in recent years.
