Better Lait Than Never: Not the ending we wanted, but the Oilers gave us a hell of a ride

The Oilers’ playoff run lasted 63, and it was arguably the most fun I’ve ever had in a two-month stretch. Even though it sucks to be so close and still fall short, it’s also hard not to feel proud about the way the Oilers finished.

I start this week’s episode of Better Lait Than Never with a quick recap of my trip to Florida for Game 7. Outside of the result, those were arguably two of the most fun days I’ve ever had. From the chartered flight down to the mayhem at the Elbo Room on Sunday night, the people we met along the way made the trip worth it even though we flew across the continent for only 36 hours. As always, Oilers fans travel incredibly well, and it was so much fun to see as many of us down there as there were.

Turning the podcast back to the Oilers, the team had their end-of-season interviews today, and it was interesting to hear everyone speak about what that run meant to them. Obviously, we all wanted to hear Leon Draisaitl say that he was going to sign an extension ASAP, but it wasn’t exactly surprising to hear him say that he needed some time to process what just happened, even though he admittedly loves playing here.

It was also fascinating to hear from the likes of Warren Foegele, Connor Brown, and Mattias Janmark, three guys who weren’t exactly shy about admitting they wanted to come back. Of course, the NHL is a business at the end of the day, and in the salary cap days, it will be interesting to see how the team navigates their pending UFAs. We also heard a report from TSN’s Darren Dreger which stated that Ken Holland will not be back with the organization next year despite initially hearing that he had a role offered to him to stay.

Lastly, I wrapped up this week’s show with a guest RSB about the Oilers bandwagon and capped off the pod with another round of voicemails ranging from Stanley Cup woes to positive messages and everything in between. Once again, this podcast really is one of my favourite parts of the week, and I’m so very grateful for the levels of participation by the wonderful BLTN community that keeps moving. Oh, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.