Here is a transcript I put together of his words. I suggest that everyone read it rather than doing the easy "He was a terrible captain and Eakins was a terrible coach" posting. Rather listen to it so you can hear it first hand and his passion and disappointment in the team.
On Lucic:
He’s got as much pride as anybody, absolutely loves being in the NHLand loves playing an important role on a team. I see the same frustrations that I had too in going Edmonton about certain aspects of going there and especially coming from a really dialled in culture. When you’ve seen a dialled in culture and team and how its operating and you go to something different it can be extremely frustrating.
Being from Edmonton and I grew up in Sherwood Park, Ive seen it a million times, there’s always a sacrificial lamb on the team that just gets roasted by the radio guys and the newspaper guys and then the fans just continue that on. I think he’s obviously taken that a bit and you always got the target on your back with the big contract and he’d been the first to admit he should be getting more points and scoring more goals, you get all that.
But its tough, its really tough play there and and to be the centre of so much negativity and I dont care who you are negativity gets to you and doesn’t usually help you at all. Its tough for him and I think that its tough for any player transitioning from a really super important role on a team to a secondary role on the ice. I think he’s still incredibly important in the room and I think thats probably, whenever Ive talked to him, its goals and assists and sometimes your play can dip and change and sometimes its luck and sometimes your just not playing so good but you can always do the stuff in the room and create that culture and lead off the ice.
You always have pretty much full control of that that shouldn’t dip and ebb and fall off the map. So I think for a guy like that thats where you have to maybe transition where your role on the ice isn’t so important but your role off the ice and in the room and as a leader, you have to magnify that yourself and really make yourself important in those ways as well.
On the game changing vis a vis Lucic:
Everythings changing yes, there’s probably not too many defensemen that still like playing against him. Him on the forecheck when he’s all rambunctious and running around, he’s not a fun player to play against. its just that when you’ve had really successful seasons, I don't know what his top line numbers are and his best years but your not hitting those same numbers you used to hit, your not getting the same playing time, your not scoring as many goals, does that mean your horrible?
No, people will automatically look at your contract and have expectations where you should be and so they should but I think its just some people might adjust their own personal expectations a little quicker than others and just accept the fact Im not going to be that 40 goal guy 22 minute a night guy so what can I do. If you dont adjust that quick enough the frustration will be never ending.
On the culture in Edmonton when he played and why doesn’t it work in Edmonton:
(Elliott asking about being the After Hours guest in Edmonton where Edmonton got pummelled that night - he says with a laugh “Surprise!”)
I don’t think it’s one thing. I think its a combination of elements that go into it. I think that aspect of feeling more scared to make a mistake and be the whipping boy rather than being bold and taking your chances and having that confidence to try a play. Some guys might get into that role of being scared to be the whipping boy. I don’t know if that makes sense (Elliott says "I have heard that theory before").
You take less risks, your urge to win and be bold is less than your urge to not be the whipping boy or stand out right? So I think that is one aspect. The quickness that radio or newspaper or fans jump and attack their own guys is horrible. I think that the quickness to defend players within the organization I remember Jeff Petry or Schultz getting raked over the coals and nobody coming to defend them and then just trading them when their value, after they’ve beaten them down for months, then trading them, its like God, its not just for those guys but its for other guys on the team and your looking at it and saying like well f… they don’t have his back, are they going to have mine when its my turn to be the whipping boy you know?
But I think the most frustrating part for me as a player when I went in there straight from Boston was talk is cheap. I went in, Dallas Eakins is a fantastic coach, there’s another whipping boy who got dragged over the coals, he’s a fantastic coach that was dealt just a pure crap hand in a team that would actually listen. You got a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs and talked about how sick they were of losing and then by game 3 after losing 6-1 they’re straight out to the bar till 3 in the morning lighting up the night life scene in Edmonton.
Cmon give me a break. It was to the point where it was ridiculous, where the lifestyle was way more important than actually playing the game and making the playoffs but like I said talk is cheap. Even in practice, came from a group where you’re practicing against guys like Bergeron or Chara and your going at each other, game intensity and thats how you get better, thats how you be a playoff contender, thats how you be a champion and you try to instil some of those values, and we had some other guys had been on playoff teams and they had the same frustrations, they’d come and practice hard and theres a group of guys there that had, that were too cool to try hard, like derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. Thats the culture right. So how do you break that?
Well you come in and try to disrupt. Over the years there have been attempts to disrupt whether it was Eakins or I come in there or Pronger or whoever it was. Different people come in and disrupt but I know personally it was really hard for me. You come in as an older guy but far from being one of the better players on the team so you can be a leader with experience but I am not a game changer, I am a number 4/5 defenceman. Your voice only goes so far with people that only respect how good your toe drag is and wether or not you're out partying.
So your voice doesn’t carry much weight with people that don’t put value on those aspects I was bringing from Boston or that Dallas was trying to instil in the team so was it not only frustrating but it really pissed me off because its a waste of those years in your NHL career where you never get those back and you see a coach like Dallas get really so unfairly treated. Like I said was he perfect, no and he’d be the first to admit that he would rather do some of those things different but taking the blame, what are you supposed to do with a culture like that?
Edit
Forgot to add this bit from Ference in the transcript which was the tail end to a question about systems and how the media were criticizing the swarm when the swarm was not being utilized any longer.
“You could have had any kind of defense or any kind of system. But if you go on a Western swing and your guys are out every single night until 5 in the morning, I mean, you’re not going to win too many games”
