The highly anticipated Spittin’ Chiclets podcast featuring Milan Lucic has been released and it’s full of some ridiculous stories no less. Lucic also calls DeMar DeRozan a little bitch for his behavior regarding getting traded from Toronto to San Antonio. I don’t follow basketball but that’s pretty funny stuff.
Anyways, I’m going to try to transcribe the Edmonton portion of the interview below but I have to warn you, I’m under some medication at the moment. I hope the transcription and comments are coherent. If not, you can check out the whole podcast at the bottom of the page.
LIVING IN EDMONTON
It’s been a change. I’ll say that. I mean, Whitter (Ryan Whitney) you know what it’s like to deal with the Edmonton winters. It’s not so much the snow or the coldness, for me, the darkness has the been the biggest- and the dryness. I’ve never had to use so much lotion in my life before being in Edmonton but to be honest, it’s been great ever since I’ve been there. The organization treats you like gold.
No talk about the fans or the Hall trade eh? I wonder if that was a pre-determined thing because the SC boys had zero qualms asking Eberle and Hall and Maroon about their trades and the fans in Edmonton…
That said, I’m happy that Lucic is happy in Edmonton and that the local lotion distributors are seeing an uptick in business. He should try to use some more on those hands of his those… I keed!
I live in a suburb just 15 minutes west of the new arena, which the did an unbelievable job of. I mean, the dressing room is second to none, you get anything you want, anything you ask for they give it to you. The food on the plane we get, the hotels we stay at, all that type of stuff, it’s truly unbelievable. I’ve been lucky the three teams that I’ve played for, all of the organizations have been first class. I gotta say, the Oilers will literally do whatever you want and give you whatever you need in order to succeed.
My first year there you go in and I’m excited, I just signed a new deal as a UFA, get a chance to play with the best player in the world for hockey and we end up being one win away from going to the Western Conference Final.
LAST SEASON, WHAT HAPPENED?
It was almost like too much came at us too fast last year with the Vegas odds pegging us as the second best team to win the cup. So many guys came off a career year. It was almost like we were set up for failure. There was so much expectation that we were set up for failure and there was too much expecting things to happen versus making them happen.
So I think for us, a lot of guys are excited to come back. I know I’m excited to come back and go back and have that “proove people wrong” kind of mentality and be an elite team all over again and for myself personally be an elite player once again.
Pretty much what Pat Maroon said in his interview with the SC boys, right? The expectations were too high, the players thought that it would come to them instead of going out and getting it.
I’m betting that mentality changes in 2018/19.
MORE ON LAST SEASON AND GOING INTO 2018
I think it was definitely more of a mental thing. It was almost like everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong for our team and for me personally and it was the snowball effect or the quicksand effect. It was like the more you tried the more you sunk in the quicksand. That’s what it was.
For me it’s just mentally having fun going to the rink again and mentally looking forward to the challenges we face as a team and as an athlete every single day where I think my mindset got very negative last year. So I was almost my own worst enemy where this year I’m going in with a happy healthier mindset and I think that’ll help me get back to the player I am and I think when you’re playing with the best player in the world it gives you a vote of confidence to try and step up and not let him down.I think we’re all feeling that and we all had fun in the 2016/17 season so we want to get back to being that team and winning on a nightly basis.
It broke my heart every time the puck jumped over Lucic’s stick when he had an open net. You know he was squeezing that stick so hard and doing his damnedest to try and make things happen.
The part about not letting Connor down. That shot out at me. Was that the same for you? He really cares about how his young captain feels about him. I’m 100% sure the feeling is mutual because how many times did McDavid set up Lucic to try and break that slump last year when he could’ve made a better more selfish choice with the puck?
Milan sounds really positive and much happier in the interview. His voice has some optimism and jump in it and I think he’s truly ready to give it a real go next year. For his sake, I hope his efforts are reciprocated on the scoresheet.
There’s some chat about the celebrity laden gym that Lucic was working out at last year with Tyrell Owens and Sly Stallone amongst the famous folks who made appearances but I didn’t feel the need to transcribe that as none of it pertains to the Oilers. But the Edmonton section ends on this note:
If anything this year, being more focused on being mentally healthy and mentally happy and like you said, I’m a proud person and I’ve been doing everything I can to make sure that I bounce back and be the best player I can be for Oilers this upcoming season.
Lucic also mentioned he was working out with Chad Moreau (Former Oilers Captain Ethan Moreau’s brother) this summer b/c it’s closer to his house in LA. So for those of you who are truly diehards, that’s an interesting note.
I’m betting that there’s going to be a lot of disappointed Oilers fans out there with this interview because Lucic doesn’t really say too much that we all didn’t really know. I found it entertaining nevertheless but the previous stuff where he talks about his time in Boston might be a bit better if you’re looking into for that “behind the scenes” interview.
So here is the podcast in its entirety. The Lucic portion starts at the 43 minute mark and then the Edmonton talk comes in with about 14 minutes remaining. Lots of Boston stuff before the Edmonton portion just to forewarn you. Enjoy!
