so Leon dry Sidle just got a massive extension with the Edmonton Oilers yesterday signing an 8-year $112 million contract which makes him the highest paid player in the NHL now saying that Leon dyle is the highest paid player in the NHL it probably feels a little bit weird to a lot of people myself included because it's pretty easy to say that he's not the best player in the NHL but he is resetting the market so it makes sense that he's going to be highered paid than a guy like his teammate found McDavid or Austin Matthews who signed their record-breaking extensions a few years ago but the question is does Leon dyle deserve to be made the highest paid player in the NHL even conceding that he's not the best player in the NHL in other words is he the kind of player that you would expect to get a record-breaking Market setting contract and to me the answer is a 100% affirmative tridal is in my opinion one of the five best players in the NHL right now he's coming off of three straight 40 goal 100 point seasons and in all honesty that would have been six straight years if the pandemic hadn't shortened the 2020 2021 season he's still very much in his prime at age 28 he's going to be 29 when the league year starts I believe or just about to turn 29 so this 8-year contract going to take him to about his age 37 season and if you want to compare him to another Elite scorer who I would say he compares to quite favorably Alex oetkin he was still a pointed game player in his age 37 Season 75 points in 73 games including 42 goals there's no reason to think that dry cidal especially if the Oilers keep McDavid locked in along with him which they absolutely should prioritize will be able to maintain a similar level of productivity towards the end of this contract but this also does put the Edmonton Oilers into a bit of a Toronto M beliefs like predicament where they have four players McDavid tridal Darnell nurse and Evan Bard once they eventually lock him up to his extension which is going to be pretty hefty eating up around 40 to 50% of the salary cap in the years going forward now luckily as opposed to the maple leaf the Oilers have all those cont cont s tied up not just in forwards but in two defensemen problem is that one of those contracts and Darnell nurse is already looking like it might be aging pretty badly the things might get very dicey for the Oilers in the next few years