Leon Draisaitl is already the center of attention at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Milan. The 30-year-old ice hockey player has been selected to march into Milan’s San Siro Stadium this Friday (8 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the 2026 Olympics, on ARD and on Eurosport) at the head of the team in black, red and gold and carrying the German flag.
The German squad includes 188 athletes – more than ever before. The expectations of them are high. For the competitions over the next 17 days, Thomas Weickert, the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, formulated the aim of “exciting the German fans and providing unforgettable moments”.
Like father like son
Draisaitl has long been used to being in the spotlight, but with his first Olympic participation he will be breaking new ground. Born in Cologne in 1995, he grew up between ice cream and football. His father Peter Draisaitl played 146 times for the German national ice hockey team and took part in three Olympic Games.
He was a role model for his son from an early age. At the age of eleven, Leon Draisaitl moved from the Kölner EC to the Mannheim Adler and scored 103 points in one season for the student team, and later 223 points in just 34 games. He made his debut in the national team at the age of 18.
A few months later, the Edmonton Oilers selected him third in the 2014 draft of the North American professional league NHL. He developed into the leading scorer, became the first German to win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player in 2020 and was named Sportsman of the Year in Germany. In 2024 and 2025 he reached the Stanley Cup final with the Oilers – but triumph was denied him in each case.
Draisaitl has long since become at home in Edmonton. Last year he married Canadian actress Celeste Desjardins. With the extension of his contract with the Oilers until the end of the 2032 season, he became one of the highest-paid players in the NHL with a base salary of the equivalent of twelve million euros.
Wayne Gretzky, the biggest ice hockey idol to date, particularly praises Draisaitl’s work without the puck: “Many people have talent. But Leon combines talent with the right attitude. He has the necessary work ethic. He is only so good because he works hard for it every day.”
At the Olympic Games, national coach Harold Kreis is relying on the broad-shouldered striker Draisaitl as a source of inspiration. His experience, his technique and his game intelligence are the basis for the plan to scare the competition. Anyone who knows Draisaitl’s vita knows: He will not shine to please as a soloist, but to make the team’s success possible.
