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Leon Draisaitl Makes Blunt Admission About 'Older' Oilers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 11:37 AM ET

Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl didn’t point fingers during the end-of-season media availability, but subtly demanded a slight retool of the team's roster if they want to get over the hump.

Draisaitl made his stance clear on Thursday, saying the Oilers don’t need a rebuild, but rather a refresh and to bring in some younger legs.

"Our core is probably in the prime right now in terms of maturity and experiences and all those things," Draisaitl said. "So we’re an older team. Do we need to get a little bit younger? A little bit faster? Maybe.

"But I think our core group is at an age where we got a lot of juice left, so hopefully we can continue to kick away at it."

"Our core is probably in the prime right now in terms of maturity & experience… at an age where we've got a lot of juice left. Hopefully we can continue to kick away at it."

Leon Draisaitl reflects on the #Oilers season & playoffs.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/YpgGWsT1yS
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 19, 2025

The Oilers’ second consecutive loss in the Stanley Cup Final — both to the Florida Panthers — brought back questions about the team’s roster and how it's built around Draisaitl and fellow superstar Connor McDavid.

Draisaitl, who led the NHL with 52 goals this season and added 33 points in 22 playoff games, is still producing at an elite level. So is McDavid, who notched 33 points in 22 postseason games.

The veteran forward seemed to caution the front office against simply running it back next season after their consecutive failures on the biggest stage.

"I think that we probably just made it a little bit too easy for them, especially the last couple of games," Draisaitl said. "There’s a couple mistakes that we made that we didn’t get from them, you know, it was never that easy so, yeah, something to learn for sure."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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