The Oilers’ last game before the NHL Olympic break is at the Calgary Flames on Feb. 4.
“We have amazing athletes in our country,” Draisaitl said. “We’re a big country that develops a lot of great athletes, whether it’s in the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics. To be in the conversation to represent our nation is really special. We’ll see how it ends up.”
Germany’s men’s hockey team features seven current NHL players, including Oilers forward Josh Samanski, who was recalled by Edmonton from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Monday. Forwards JJ Peterka (Utah Mammoth), Tim Stutzle (Ottawa Senators), Nico Sturm (Minnesota Wild), and defenseman Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings), and goalie Philipp Grubauer (Seattle Kraken) are also on the roster.
“I see it as just wanting to go there be around some of my best friends and show the hockey world how good we can play hockey as a team,” Draisaitl said. “We know we’re going to be an underdog in the majority of the games we play, but we have some great players and German hockey has come a long, long way and I’m just going to try to do my part to try and help our team be as successful as we can and hopefully, at the end of the day, we’re going to achieve what we want to achieve.”
Germany is in Group C of the 12-team tournament, along with Latvia, the United States and Denmark. Germany plays its first game against Denmark on Feb. 12 (3:10 p.m. ET; USA, CBC Gem). It plays Latvia on Feb. 14, and the United States on Feb. 15.
“There are certainly some guys that I don’t know and haven’t met even yet, the younger generation, and some of the guys on the team are some of my best friends that were standing at my wedding, guys that I talk to daily,” said Draisaitl, who was born in Cologne. “It’s a bit of a mix, a bit of both. I’m just excited to see everyone, excited to get the group together and excited to represent our country and truly show the hockey world how great we are as a country.”
Draisaitl is the highest scoring Germany-born player in NHL history with 1,030 points (424 goals, 606 assists) in 841 games. He is in his 12th season with Edmonton and has 74 points (25 goals, 49 assists) in 51 games, which is fifth in the NHL entering Thursday.
In Italy, Draisaitl will be reunited with some of his youth teammates.
“I’m just excited to be around them,” he said. “My childhood best friend is on the team, Freddy Tiffels. Our moms went to school together. I’ve known him since I was minutes old.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to represent my country and be around those guys. That’s partly what I’m most excited about, is being around my friends and getting to experience that with him.”
He also could end up playing against Oilers teammate Connor McDavid, who will play for Team Canada.
The forwards have been NHL teammates with Edmonton for 11 seasons, and the only time they have played against each other was at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in a preliminary-round game that Canada won 5-2. McDavid had an assist in the win while Draisaitl did not have a point.
“It’s scary. For him,” Draisaitl joked. “No, that would be really special, of course. It might feel a little weird at first, but when the puck drops, he’s going to look to give his team the best chance to win and I’m going to do the same for our country. I think that’s what makes those tournaments so great. That would obviously be a unique situation and an odd feeling. We’ll see where it goes.”
