“I think when you get drafted somewhere, I’ve said this before, you create a type of love for that team,” Drasiaitl said. “Your original thought is that, ‘They wanted me, and I want to pay it back to that team, and I want to be with this team forever.’ I think that’s always the initial thought of every player.

“It’s just the passion that the city brings toward hockey, toward us. The people just admire us and they just love us so, so much. They support us. I’m very happy, I take great pride in wearing the Oilers jersey and playing for our city.

“I think we’ve created that over the last couple of seasons, I think we’ve created a culture that people want to be a part of. I think that everyone who signs with us or gets traded to us, they always truly realize how special we’re treated in the first place. Our building, how great care our ownership takes of us, the type of team we have, how tight we are, how much we enjoy playing for each other. I think that’s something that a lot of people want to be a part of.”

“That’s the most fun part about the hockey world, I think,” Draisaitl said. “There’s so many guys you battle against and that you just can’t stand, and you, in a way, get aggravated just looking at their face, and then you get to meet them and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is the best guy in the world, and I would do anything for him,’ right? It’s so funny how this game works this way.

“[Perry] is certainly one of those guys. I’ve been in a playoff series against him, in seven games, and I probably wanted to tomahawk my stick over his head, but now I would do anything for him because I know how good of a teammate he is, how much he cares about the game, how he presents himself, how he takes care of his teammate. He’s a really, really great teammate, and still a really good player.”