It's no secret that Leon Draisaitl hobbled through most of the playoffs. But now that his Edmonton Oilers have been eliminated from the post-season, he still is declining to reveal what exactly was ailing him.
"I'm sure a lot of people saw the video, saw the clip of what happened, I'm sure you can figure out what type of injury it was by watching the clip," Draisaitl said during his end-of-season comments on Tuesday.
Draisaitl appeared to injure his leg in Game 7 against the Los Angeles Kings after taking an awkward fall during a scrum.
Despite that, he still laid down a heroic performance in these playoffs, including with his team facing elimination Monday night. While in very noticeable pain — especially when getting up after being knocked to the ice — he still contributed four primary assists in Monday's 6-5 overtime loss.
In the end, he finished the playoffs with 32 points in 16 games — one behind teammate Connor McDavid. He became the only player not named Wayne Gretzky to record 25 assists in 16 playoff games or less and his seven three-point games are also something only Gretzky has previously done in the playoffs.
"I'm really proud of our team, the way we've handled everything this season," Draisaitl said. "At times it wasn't easy, wasn't perfect, but I thought we battled all season. We stuck together all season, and at the end of the day, that's most important."
