Frustrated Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl might have gone too far.
Draisaitl, who has always been known to speak his mind, made the wrong move by going public in criticizing his team’s performance following a February 4th, 4-3 loss at Scotiabank Saddledome against their Alberta rivals, the Calgary Flames.
Perhaps, it was due to the team’s frustration after dropping their third straight game that Draisaitl didn’t hold back with the media in his assessment of his team’s performance against Calgary.
Performance issues and any other problems should really be addressed in the dressing room or somewhere else in private and not made public through the media but that’s not how Draisaitl saw it.
One of the statements Draisaitl made was about the team’s goaltending, as he stated, “It’s a two-way street. It starts with us in front of him, and then the game comes a little bit easier for him, but I think there are saves that our goalies need to make at some point. You need everybody, it starts with coaches… You’re never gonna win if you have four or five guys going. It starts at the top. We can be better. Our leaders can be better. We’ll take the break and regroup.”
Draisaitl, who incidentally scored two goals and was a +1 in the Flames loss, also went on to state, “We’re not consistent enough. This league is too hard to lollygag through games and trying to get winning streaks going. You need everybody. It starts with coaches. Everybody.”
The break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Oilers who prior to dropping that last game against Calgary, had suffered consecutive losses starting on January 31st with a 7-3 loss against the Minnesota Wild followed a few days later on February 3rd with a 5-2 loss against the Oilers.
Oilers forward voices frustration to media about team’s performance
Draisaitl’s most famous exchange with the media
For the rest of Draisaitl’s career, he will always be remembered for what could be described as the most talked about media exchange which took place in January 2022 which received countless views on social media along with numerous comments.
At the time, Edmonton was winless in the past month and had dropped 12 of 14 games. Draisaitl, who was extremely frustrated on this day got onto a heated exchange with Postmedia journalist Jim Matheson who started things off my asking, “What do you think is the number one reason for the losses now? Is there one thing in your mind that you’re thinking, We gotta get better at that?”
The dialogue started off fine as Draisaitl answered, “Yeah, we have to get better at everything.” After Matheson responded with, “Would you like to expand on that?” Then things got a little tense as Draisaitl responded with, “Nope you can do that. You know everything.”
That was just some of what was said in that memorable 2022 media exchange with Matheson and Draisaitl which he will always be remembered for.
Draisaitl had to take a leave of absence
Last month, Draisaitl suffered a major setback which following a phone call took him temporarily away from hockey. Draisaitl, playing in his 12th season as an Oiler, left the team on Saturday, January 13th and returned home to Germany due to a family illness. No other details were released. On the ice, he obviously left big shoes to fill as he averaged 22:05 of ice time per night while ranking second in team scoring with 25 goals and 67 points.
Obviously the two-time Stanley Cup finalist Oilers aren’t playing their best hockey. They have at different times this year been criticized for their goaltending and defensive play.
While Draisaitl might be the second best point producer on the team, it doesn’t give him the right to criticize the coaching staff, goaltenders or team in general to the media. Again, those issues should be addressed in private.
Main Image: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images
