Draisaitl was born in Cologne, Germany, where his father, Peter, played professionally. The younger Draisaitl blossomed with Prince Albert in the Western Hockey League.

The forward was Prince Albert's signature player for two seasons before the Edmonton Oilers selected him with the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Draisaitl played 37 games with the Oilers as a rookie in 2014-15 before being assigned to Kelowna of the WHL, which had traded for his rights.

He helped Kelowna to the 2015 WHL championship, scoring 28 points in 19 games and earning playoff MVP honors. He then helped Kelowna reach the 2015 Memorial Cup championship game, where it lost in overtime to Oshawa. Draisaitl was named the tournament MVP.

In 2015, the Oilers sent Draisaitl to Bakersfield, their American Hockey League affiliate, to start the season. That lasted six games before Draisaitl was called up for the rest of the season, and he finished with 19 goals and 51 points in 72 games.

Draisaitl, a natural center who can be used on the wing, has size, speed and vision that make him effective as a scorer or set-up man with a knack for finding the open man. He showed off his variety of skills in 2016-17, finishing second on the Oilers with 77 points (29 goals, 48 assists) to help Edmonton advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2006. Draisaitl led the Oilers in postseason scoring with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 13 games.

After signing an eight-year contract with the Oilers on Aug. 16, 2017, Draisaitl had 70 points (25 goals, 45 assists) in 78 games in 2017-18. He followed that in 2018-19 by finishing second in the NHL with 50 goals and fourth with 105 points. He became the sixth Oilers skater, and first since Craig Simpson in 1987-88) to score at least 50 goals in one season and ninth with at least 100 points.

Draisaitl was even better in 2019-20, leading the NHL with 110 points (43 goals, 67 assists) in 71 games. He was voted winner of the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the League's most outstanding player as voted by members of the NHL Players' Association.

During the Oilers' 9-1-0 start to the 2021-22 season, Draisaitl and McDavid became the first pair of Edmonton teammates to individually reach 20 points within the first 10 games of the season since Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri in 1984-85. Draisaitl led the NHL in goal-scoring for much of the season before finishing with 55 goals, second behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (60), and 110 points that ranked fourth.

Draisaitl set a Stanley Cup Playoff record with five consecutive games of at least three points to help the Oilers to a five-game win against the Calgary Flames in the 2022 Western Conference Second Round while breaking a Battle of Alberta record for most points in a series with 17. His 32 points in 16 games were one behind McDavid for most in the postseason, a run that ended when the Oilers were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.

Draisaitl signed an eight-year, $112 million contract with the Oilers on Sept. 3, 2024. His 106 points (41 goals, 65 assists) in 81 regular-season games ranked seventh in the NHL in 2023-24, and he ranked third in the playoffs with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 25 games to help Edmonton advance to the Stanley Cup Final, a seven-game loss to the Florida Panthers. The following season he had three assists in a 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Place on Dec. 19, that made him the fifth-fastest NHL player born outside North America to reach 900 points (751 games). Only Peter Stastny (599), Kurri (632), Jaromir Jagr (681) and Nikita Kucherov (743) got there faster.

Draisaitl was named a finalist for the 2025 Hart Trophy after leading the NHL in goals (52) and tied for third in points (106) despite being limited to 71 games. He became the first player in NHL history to score four overtime goals in the same postseason. He became the 111th player in NHL history and 11th active to score at least 400 goals when he got No. 400 in Edmonton's 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 8, 2025.

Draisaitl played for Team Germany at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, where his seven points were the most by a German player in a single tournament with NHL players. His father, Peter, participated in the 1988, 1992 and 1998 Olympics.

Draisaitl's two goals and three assists in a 5-4 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on March 3, 2026, was his seventh game in the NHL with at least five points. He passed Glenn Anderson (six) for the fifth-most in Oilers history behind Gretzky (79), Kurri (14), Connor McDavid (13) and Paul Coffey (10).