BREAKING: The Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl signs a $112 million deal that makes him the highest-paid player in the NHL.

For the next three years, the National Hockey League will have a new player who makes the most money.

On Tuesday, Leon Draisaitl, a centre for the Edmonton Oilers, agreed to a new eight-year, $112 million deal. When the deal starts in the 2025–26 season, it will cost the team $14 million. That will put him above Auston Matthews’ $53 million, four-year deal ($13.25 million cap hit) that starts this season.

Matthews’ deal was bigger than Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 million cap hit with the Colorado Avalanche last season. Before that, Connor McDavid of the Oilers made the most money each year ($12.5 million).

People thought that Draisaitl was paid way too little in his current deal, which pays him an average of $8.5 million a year and ends this season.

The No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft, Draisaitl, is now 28 years old. Since becoming a starter in the 2015-16 season, he has the second-most points in the NHL. He only has 841 points, one less than McDavid [982]. He has scored 145 power-play goals, more than anyone else during that time.

McDavid scores 1.58 points per game, which is more than his 1.46 points per game in the playoffs.

As the most valuable player on his team in 2019–20, Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy. He also helped the Oilers make it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Stan Bowman, the new general manager who was hired in July, said that getting Draisaitl was his most important job. Because the St. Louis Blues made offer sheets to forward Dylan Holloway and defender Philip Broberg, he had to wait. Bowman didn’t take the deals, so those players were let go.

It’s likely that McDavid’s next deal will be bigger than Draisaitl’s when it comes to money. His current deal ends after the 2025–26 season.