By Jeff D'Andrea

Leon Draisaitl: the Raiders’ big ‘what if’

Mar 24, 2015 | 5:04 PM

“You wonder what could have been.”

Prince Albert Raiders general manager Bruno Campese Campese said he’s still thinking about how different the season could have been if Leon Draisaitl returned for his 19-year-old season. For Campese, this comes after the season is over and the dust has settled.

Draisaitl was drafted third overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the summer, but instead of just getting in his nine-game introduction, the Oilers decided to hold onto Draisaitl for the season close to the 40-game mark in January.

“I really thought Leon would have been sent back,” said Campese. “When he was drafted by Edmonton, they had gone through that process of having young guys go through their system—I thought that they had learned lessons about development and sending guys back and not rushing guys.

“In my heart, I thought ‘Edmonton, great choice.’ I was happy at the draft and I was thinking, ‘he’s going to play his nine games out but we will see him.’”

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The Raiders never did.

Draisaitl toiled with the Oilers instead, scoring nine points in 37 games with the big club. It was becoming increasingly clear that Draisaitl would thrive a lot better in the major junior ranks and the Oilers were going to send him down.

But when they looked at the Raiders’ record, it wasn’t flattering. Before Draisaitl was traded by the Raiders to the Rockets, the Raiders’ record was 16-23-1-0 and had lost their previous five games.

Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish made it clear to Campese that if Draisaitl was going to be sent down, it wouldn’t be to the Raiders—rather the Kelowna Rockets.

“As time went on, the problem is we were on the outside looking in so if they were going to send Leon back, they wanted the ideal situation for him—whether it’s right or wrong, I guess it’s their opinion,” said Campese.

Campese argues that had the Raiders had Draisaitl throughout the season, his team wouldn’t have been 16-23-1-0.

The numbers back that up. Coming off a 105-point season in 64 games (1.64 points per game) with the Raiders last year, the Raiders traded Draisaitl’s rights to the Rockets, where he scored 53 points in 32 games (1.66 points per game).

Despite appearing in less than half of the 72-game schedule, Draisaitl outscored all of the Raider skaters with the exception of leading scorer Reid Gardiner, who had 64 points in 67 games and Craig Leverton, who also ended up with 53 points in 70 games.

Campese banked on Draisaitl’s return and prepared as such. He kept 20-year-old Dakota Conroy on the team in hopes the two could recreate their formidable 1-2 punch of the 2013-2014 season. Of the 30 goals Conroy scored in the 2013-2014 season, Draisaitl assisted on 23 of them—including 18 primary assists.

Without Draisaitl to start this year, Conroy struggled out of the gates with the Raiders and had just one goal and two points in 10 games.

Conroy, 18-year-old Colton McCarthy and assistant coach Tim Leonard all quit the team by the middle of October. Marcus Messier replaced Conroy, but only for a short period of time as he went back home to tend to family matters on Nov. 8.

“There was a snowball effect. You can’t look back, we had to go into Plan B and C,” said Campese. “At the end of the day, that’s just the way it goes.

“But I do believe with Leon Draisaitl, a happy Josh Morrissey and potentially a different 20-year-old situation early on… I do believe we could be fighting it out with Regina for that second spot all year long to be honest with you.”

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea