Leon Draisaitl says the Edmonton Oilers have taken a step backwards, and Connor McDavid agrees with Leon
Sportsnet: Gene Principe and Mark Spector on the comments made by Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid during their end-of-season interviews yesterday.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Principe: “Mark, we’re trending the fallacious way. As I’m joined by Mark Spector, one among the I assume, like wow moments with Leon Draisaitl. What did you’re thinking that of how open and honest he was concerning the Edmonton Oilers? ”
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Spector: “Yeah, Leon Draisaitl stole the show here today on exit interview day for the Edmonton Oilers. Absolutely absolute confidence. ‘We’re, we’ve taken a step back. We’re trending within the fallacious direction. We form of lost our fire this yr.’
Uh, listen, Leon’s a simple cat. Okay? He doesn’t beat across the bush. He tells you what he thinks. And what this organization needed to listen to today all got here out of Leon Draisaitl’s mouth.
Everybody’s got to be higher, including himself, as he said, but from the management to the coaching staff to all of the players, to the guy that folds the towels. What they did this yr was not adequate within the eyes of not only Leon Draisaitl, however the guy who got here up next as well.”
Principe: “What did you consider Conor McDavid, mainly echoing the thoughts of Leon? I mean, we take a look at these two guys as being great friends, great players, they usually appear to be on the identical wavelength.”
Spector: “Oh, of course. And Conor McDavid isn’t going to put it down as plainly as Draisaitl did. But what he did do was follow up every query, where we might say, Leon said this, and Conor would say, ‘Absolutely, I agree.’ He felt like this team possibly lost the sensation of this pursuit of being an incredible team because they’re so used to being a very good one, they usually lost their ability to say, ‘You understand what, being good isn’t enough here.’
You bought to do certain things. You bought to take the regular season much more seriously. There’s a difference between being a very good team that shows up within the playoffs and an incredible team that has a probability to have a parade at the tip of them.”
Principe: “One other thing Conor McDavid handled was his contract, which is lower than the length of Leon’s contract. You understand, my opinion, the best way I read it, is that he continues to make a commitment to Edmonton and the Oilers. Do you’re thinking that there’s a ‘but’ that goes with that?”
Spector: “There’s all the time going to be. Only for the people on the market who will not be aware, Conor McDavid has his two-year contract he signed a yr ago, starts up next season. So what which means is, a yr from today, he’ll have one yr left, and on July 1st of 2027, the Oilers can have to either (A) sign McDavid long run, which they might like to do, or (B) make a choice, can we let him play out his contract within the second yr of the deal, or after which skate?
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I’ll let you know this. The recommendation from this reporter will probably be Conor McDavid can’t do what Mitch Marner did in Toronto. If Conor McDavid goes to play two years for you here, he higher be playing 5 – 6. And if he’s only going to play one a yr from now, it’s going to be an enormous, big conversation around here.”
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