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Monday he expanded that to include the community as a whole and he put his money where his mouth is.

There are a lot of good things happening here with the core players on the team involving embracing the place where they play which is reminiscent of another team from another era.

“I want to give back to the Edmonton community because it has given me so much. It’s important to me to support youth learning about how to give back and be active in the community to have a positive impact.

“It’s just important to me, spending a lot of years of my life in this city. It’s important for me now to build a connection and build something special with this community. I talked about it with my agent, Mike Liut, and he said we should do something that lasts. We thought about it and came up with this program and I couldn’t be happier with it.”

Photo by Larry Wong / Postmedia

Draisaitl said he’s discovered the essence of Edmonton in the sense of community and volunteerism and all the things people talk about. But he says it’s extra special when you wear the uniform of the Oilers.

“From the perception of just being a hockey player, there’s the love that people have for you and people caring so much about how you do. They want you to do well. They want the team to do well. Edmonton is just such a tight community that cares about its sports and especially the Oilers, I think. And it’s just really fun to be part of.”

Draisaitl, along with Liut, came up with the idea to put the $225,000 to a different charity every year. He said he chose the ‘WE’ and ‘Hockey Helps Kids’ program because of what he witnessed as captain of the D.S. MacKenzie School last year.