Former Prince Albert Raiders coach loves seeing Draisaitl excel with Oilers
Since the day Leon Draisaitl landed in Prince Albert as a 17 year old back in the summer of 2012, former Raiders assistant coach Tim Leonard knew he was going to be a great player for years to come.
“After seeing him for the first couple of weeks on the ice, it was like, ‘Wow, this kid is something special and he is going to go on and do some special things,’” Leonard said.
“I picked him up the first day, and his English wasn’t the best. I took him up to Christopher Lake for the day and had a good day at the lake. That’s kind of how it all started. (He was a) very pleasant young man when he first showed up.”
Draisaitl was dubbed the “German Gretzky” before coming to Canada and, as a result, was selected second overall by the Raiders in the 2012 CHL Import Draft.