[Eric Vail]

“But I think the most frustrating part for me as a player, like I said, when I went in there straight Boston was that talk is cheap. Dallas Eakins is a fantastic coach that there’s another whipping boy that got dragged over the coals. He was a fantastic coach that was dealt just a pure crap hand in a team that would actually listen. You had 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 until 3 in the morning lighting up the nightlife scene in Edmonton. Like, come on - give me a break. It was to the point where it was ridiculous. The lifestyle was way more important than playing the game and making the playoffs. But like I said, talk is cheap.

“Even in practice, you came from a group where you’re practicing against guys like Bergeon or Chara and you’re going at each other - game intensity. And that’s how you get better. That’s how you be a playoff contender. That’s how you be a champion. And you try to instill some of those values. We had other guys that had been on playoff teams, and they had the same frustrations. They’d come and practice hard and there’s a group of guys there that had ‘Too cool to try hard.’ They had derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right.

“Like I said, 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.”

Wow. Party boys that won't put out in practice.