World class Made in Germany: Draisaitl NHL top scorer for the first time

Leon Draisaitl is now officially one of the most successful German athletes in the USA. Basketball player Dirk Nowitzki became NBA champion, American football professional Sebastian Vollmer won the Super Bowl alongside superstar Tom Brady - but there has never been a top scorer in one of the major US leagues from Germany. “Of course this is a great honor for me and also something very special. But of course that wouldn’t have been possible without my teammates,” Draisaitl told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.

“From a purely playful perspective, it will be even better.” Former national coach Marco Sturm Even without his own championship title, he is now the NHL top scorer in the strongest ice hockey league in the world - which means he is as good as almost anyone else in his sport. He delivered 110 scorer points for the Edmonton Oilers, and only in 15 of 71 games was Draisaitl not directly involved in a goal. “Maybe not in terms of points, but from a purely playful point of view he will get even better. He will become an even better player because he is still so young,” said former national coach Marco Sturm recently about the 24-year-old national player.

The 24-year-old made history. © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / JAMIE SQUIRE

Sturm, a former NHL forward himself, now works as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings. “If we were to play against Edmonton tomorrow, we would be talking about Leon Draisaitl: How can you stop him? This has never happened before with a German player.” Not the type for cool sayings People in the USA and Canada know this, where Cologne is a big deal. If the league is conducting fan interviews these days in order to produce a bit of content during the Corona break, then Draisaitl will of course be there as one of the faces of the league. He doesn't inspire the ice hockey fans with a cool saying, that's not his style, but because it's really him who answers their question. The man who seems unstoppable on the ice.

After the Corona stop in March, it looked for a while as if this season of his life would only be of value for statistics fans. But now league boss Gary Bettman has announced plans for how the NHL would like to continue after the forced break at some point - the hope is the end of July. Directly with slightly more extensive playoffs than usual, with 24 instead of 16 teams. The main round is officially over. And Draisaitl gets the Art Ross Trophy.

Draisaitl watched Bettman's video message, but the consequences only became clear to him when he received many SMS congratulations. There may be more coming soon. He is considered a candidate for the MVP Award, the title as the most important player of the season - an award that, as a German athlete in the USA, has so far only been presented to Nowitzki. Draisaitl said he “doesn’t think much about it.”

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World class Made in Germany: Draisaitl NHL top scorer for the first time

The NHL is the strongest ice hockey league in the world - and Cologne's Leon Draisaitl is now officially the best scorer. This is a consequence of the NHL's post-corona plans that have now been published. The 24-year-old is writing German sports history.

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