Andrew Ference does candid interview for 31 Thoughts podcast on state of Oilers.

[Taswell]

depending on who you want to believe--Eberle might not be back with NYI next season and it has little to do with the fact he will be a UFA

Lou Lam has rules when it comes to players and zero tolerance with guys who dog it

Idk about all that, but judging by Eberle's wife constantly complaining on Instagram about not liking NY and wanting to go back to Alberta, I don't think he was resigning anyway.

 

[McShogun99]

Idk about all that, but judging by Eberle's wife constantly complaining on Instagram about not liking NY and wanting to go back to Alberta, I don't think he was resigning anyway.

That's got to be a first for a players wife to want to leave a major American city for Alberta.

 

[Soundwave]

That's got to be a first for a players wife to want to leave a major American city for Alberta.

I think Ryan Smyth + wife were the same way, they did not like life in LA and wanted back in Alberta.

 

[Soundwave]

...And yet, mysteriously, a team with three 1st overall picks kept finishing in the basement. There was definitely something wrong. Blaming an overpaid low skill guy just doesn't work. The culture was there before Ference came, and it stayed after he left. All he's doing is telling what it was like.

I think honestly that has more to do with Yakupov and RNH being somewhat underwhelming 1st overalls. If the Oilers got Tavares and Stamkos there instead, magically they'd probably be a lot better.

Yakupov in particular was a total bust. RNH is a decent player, but he's more like a 3/4/5 pick in most any other draft year.

Hall is the only legit no.1 overall they had until McDavid. Which is kind of a problem when you bank it all on a scorched earth Pittsburgh style rebuild.

 

[Frank Drebin]

working hard doesn't win games though. good players that score do

Good players that score that learn to work as hard as Ference become legends

 

[EdJovanovski]

Never realized how much of a painfully self righteous dweeb this guy was.

 

[Soundwave]

I personally don't think going out for a few drinks makes you evil, either.

There's plenty of time after a game to go hit up a bar or club, get a good 6-8 hours of sleep before practice or morning skate. You get a meal in at the rink, go home, nap for an hour or two, wake up, have your pre-game meal and go to the rink. A 200 pound man in his 20s not going to get black out drunk from even 4-5 drinks over the course of 2-3 hours.

I think some of this is exaggerated. Did he go out on a semi-regular basis? Sure I think so. Lots of athletes do. Do I think he was getting black out drunk and staying out until 5 AM 5x a week ... no I doubt that. He wouldn't have been able to perform at the level he did (two PPG+ seasons in Edmonton) if he behaved like that.

It's clear from Hall's physique that he spends a fair amount of time in the gym too and is not some lazy ass.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

I think Ryan Smyth + wife were the same way, they did not like life in LA and wanted back in Alberta.

Having never been to Alberta, but spent time in LA, I know 100% I would prefer Alberta.

EDIT: Afterthought. The amount of Hall/Eberle apologists in this thread kinda blows my mind given how well know (or so I thought) the reports of Hall being a black-out-drunk kinda guy were. Out of curiosity for those that defend them/attack Ference - are you Oilers fans? Devils fans? Bruins Fans? Ference haters? or just big fans of Hall/Eberle? Not judging your opinions, just genuinely curious.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Having never been to Alberta, but spent time in LA, I know 100% I would prefer Alberta.

Lol, bold statement. But yes the people are different, and neither place is for everyone

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

Lol, bold statement. But yes the people are different, and neither place is for everyone

not that bold. LA has 0 redeeming qualities, Alberta has at least one - its not LA.

 

[Soundwave]

Having never been to Alberta, but spent time in LA, I know 100% I would prefer Alberta.

EDIT: Afterthought. The amount of Hall/Eberle apologists in this thread kinda blows my mind given how well know (or so I thought) the reports of Hall being a black-out-drunk kinda guy were. Out of curiosity for those that defend them/attack Ference - are you Oilers fans? Devils fans? Bruins Fans? Ference haters? or just big fans of Hall/Eberle? Not judging your opinions, just genuinely curious.

The truth is I would probably bet at least on road trips at some point 50-60% of NHL players in their 20s end up hitting "an establishment" looking to have a few drinks and "prowl" a bit as it were.

A lot of these guys have women waiting for them in multiple cities, whether they're married or not. A lot of these guys consume a lot of liquor and probably a lot of them also regularly partake in hard drugs.

To me one only has to look at the rosters the Oilers iced in 2013-2015 to understand fairly quickly that the Oilers weren't going to be a good team even if Hall gave up booze, women, and became a monk.

 

[stopclickbait]

Just looking up Ference stats its kind of awful how much he helped the opposing team when he was on the ice, maybe he should have been taking some tips from the kids.

 

[DFC]

I think honestly that has more to do with Yakupov and RNH being somewhat underwhelming 1st overalls. If the Oilers got Tavares and Stamkos there instead, magically they'd probably be a lot better.

Yakupov in particular was a total bust. RNH is a decent player, but he's more like a 3/4/5 pick in most any other draft year.

Hall is the only legit no.1 overall they had until McDavid. Which is kind of a problem when you bank it all on a scorched earth Pittsburgh style rebuild.

How many years have they picked inside the top 10? Just saying, there's something seriously wrong, and it goes well beyond the things that normally go wrong with teams, because most teams, eventually, build their way to at least medicrity.

It looks like Hitch might have cracked a whip though. If he hadn't, we might have been looking at a Mike Keanan return. ...Maybe that's what he threatened them with. :p

I'm kidding there, but I just mean, I don't see any reason not to take Ference at his word when all he's doing is pointing to the exact difference between a winning culture (Boston) and a losing culture (Edmonton), both of which he played in.

 

[Kranix]

Ference should put on his leather jacket and eyeglasses and go for a ride on his motor bike.

 

[Cellee]

View attachment 164153

Haha substitute the skinny jeans with regular fitting jeans and that top row has me pretty nailed down

 

[njdevil26]

For those wondering if Hall has brought his previous "attitude" to NJ... I think he did... but only in year 1. It was well publicized that after Hall's first year here, Shero had a four hour dinner with the guy to talk about his future and everything that goes along with it. He completely transformed himself last year with practicing hard and playing hard and it really paid off. Besides his benching (he played 16 minutes in the game he was 'benched'... relax people) he's been fine this year with 31 points in 29 games. The rest of the team is struggling though.

 

[Mike Lowry]

He won the mvp last year, I mean I know you think Larsson for Hall was a bad trade, but at least try to be more discrete about it

The story from Ference is yet another thing that proves it was a good deal for Edmonton. But how many times to actual hockey people need to tell you this before you realize it?

In the last 6 years, the team with Larsson on it has 39 more wins and 75 more points than the team with Hall on it. If you are going to ignore what happens on the ice because you don't understand the game since you never played it, why do you chose to ignore the only thing you ever hold on to?

 

[CamMac]

I don’t know if anyone has posted the tweets Ference put out yesterday. Not sure how to embed them but he clarified some of his comments.

We don’t have enough interviews like this with NHL players being candid and honest. I listen to Spittin’ Chiclets so I can see things from the players point of view, but they rarely ever say anything controversial or negative about other players because they’re buddies with a lot of guys in the league.

I love the honesty from Ference.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I tend to believe that Ference is telling the truth. He doesn't stand to gain anything from lying or making stuff up, it certainly makes a lot more sense than "Well the team was just really bad for no reason, despite having a lot of talent".

I think it's a little bit telling that RNH didn't exactly deny what Ference said, but instead tried to down-play it as "Exaggeration". I think this kind of indicates that RNH agrees that there was too much of a party atmosphere, as well, even if he doesn't think it was to the extent that Ference says.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Hey Andrew, The Edmonton media is one of the softest most biased Oiler suck up machine in Canada. The only media that were criticizing the Oilers were the national media, mainly TSN. All the local boys were playing dumb and acting like success will come any day now.

The building was full every game and fans still attended to watch a shit team for a decade. I still saw a bunch of Hall and Eberle Jersey's and nobody was happier than Oiler fans when those guys did well. They were not the whipping boys, supposed Captain's like you were. The terrible coach who actually had his team have 4 skaters on for like 15 seconds during a 5 on 5.

He was a bad coach, you were a bad captain. You got awarded the C based on past merit and you cashed in a cheque and you were past your prime. Young players party, there is this magical thing that happens when you are in your 20's, you can stay up till 3am and be an idiot and most likely still be ok by 8am even with 3 or 4 hours of sleep. We have all done that as young people and had work the next morning. Were we perfect the next day at work? not always, but we still showed up and did the best we could. Now i know this might not apply the same to athletes, but i think someone that's early 20's and well conditioned can cope a lot better at that then some Joe Shmuck like me.

Nobody in the Edmonton media was tough on you until you left because you were no longer their propaganda machine. Oiler fans hated Management and not the players. We knew where the problems were.

 

[Jamin]

Kind of wild there's fans actually turning this back on Ference lmao.

Well to be fair he is the worst captain in franchise history and surprise surpise holds no accountability to himself or his BFF Eakins.

Had he said my bad I tried and it didnt work out and then said what he said I think it would be better recieved.

 

[Jamin]

The very same Matt Hendricks that was a healthy scratch the entire playoff run?!

Ference was front and centre with the team and alumni at the casino night 2 weeks ago.

You know Hendricks was so popular in the room Mcdavid personally asked TMac if he could dress and take warm ups with the team. Most scratched players are up in the press box

 

[oXo Cube]

Had he said my bad I tried and it didnt work out and then said what he said I think it would be better recieved.

Even Dallas Eakins managed this with his response and he is maybe the biggest most egotistical blowhard I've ever seen.

 

[Jamin]

...And yet, mysteriously, a team with three 1st overall picks kept finishing in the basement. There was definitely something wrong. Blaming an overpaid low skill guy just doesn't work. The culture was there before Ference came, and it stayed after he left. All he's doing is telling what it was like.

You actually just described the problem. Have you bothered to look at the rosters your defending?

Here is a quote from Gregor:

"

• I don’t discount the players partied at the inopportune time, but even if they had gone to bed regularly they might have won, what, five more games? That team simply wasn’t talented enough. They used 14 different D-men that season. Jeff Petry, Justin Schultz and Ference played 80, 74 and 71 games respectively. Nick Schultz (60), Anton Belov (57), Martin Marincin (44), Philip Larsen (30), Mark Fraser (23), Oscar Klefbom and Ladislav Smid (17), Corey Potter (16) while Denis Grebeshkov, Taylor Fedun and Brad Hunt played less than seven games each. A lack of talent, a lack of proven veterans, an inexperienced coach and a management team who built a flawed roster were the main reasons they finished with only 67 points."

Yea that d core was really gonna make some noise in the west

 

[TB12]

You actually just described the problem. Have you bothered to look at the rosters your defending?

Here is a quote from Gregor:

"

• I don’t discount the players partied at the inopportune time, but even if they had gone to bed regularly they might have won, what, five more games? That team simply wasn’t talented enough. They used 14 different D-men that season. Jeff Petry, Justin Schultz and Ference played 80, 74 and 71 games respectively. Nick Schultz (60), Anton Belov (57), Martin Marincin (44), Philip Larsen (30), Mark Fraser (23), Oscar Klefbom and Ladislav Smid (17), Corey Potter (16) while Denis Grebeshkov, Taylor Fedun and Brad Hunt played less than seven games each. A lack of talent, a lack of proven veterans, an inexperienced coach and a management team who built a flawed roster were the main reasons they finished with only 67 points."

Yea that d core was really gonna make some noise in the west

Gregor is the biggest Hall fan-boy in the Edmonton media because Hall signs some stuff for his charities every year (and Gregor does do a great job raising money). But I take everything he says about Hall with a massive grain of salt. His rant after the trade was honestly embarrassing as a supposedly “impartial” member of the media.