Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl wins 2025 ESPY for Best NHL Player

The honour falls to Draisaitl after another banner year in Edmonton for the star forward. With a fourth 50-goal season, his total of 52 earned him his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s leading goalscorer. Despite only playing 71 games, he finished with 106 points, his sixth consecutive 100-point season (excluding the shortened 2020-21 season, where he still put up 84 points in 56 games).

In the playoffs, his stats were equally impressive. Through 22 games, he put up a career-high 33 points, with 11 goals and 22 assists. He scored four overtime markers, becoming a key force in Edmonton’s push to a second-consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

This is the fourth year in a row the Best NHL Player honour is being given to an Oiler, with Connor McDavid winning it the three years prior to this one. While the award is hardly even close to the most prestigious that either of them has won, it’s just another example of their continued dominance on the ice.

McDavid and Draisaitl were not present for Wednesday’s show, as they were busy playing in a beer league game in Newmarket, Ontario. Despite their offensive prowess in the NHL, they couldn’t find the back of the net in this one, and their team ultimately fell 6-2.

Facing the two recently crowned Best NHL Players, the ref joked after the game that the other team’s goalie “stood on his head out there” in shutting down the best that hockey has to offer. Of course, it was all in good fun, with McDavid playing in front of a crowd of kids from his hometown who are no doubt inspired by him and his on-ice partner in Draisaitl.