Music: {allcanada} Oiler’s Draisaitl clarifies comments on team: ‘We all need to be better’

Saturday, February 7, 2026

{allcanada} Oiler’s Draisaitl clarifies comments on team: ‘We all need to be better’

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Edmonton Oilers superstar forward Leon Draisaitl did not hold back when assessing the state of the team heading into the Olympic Break after their 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

It marked the team's third consecutive loss, holding the Oilers firm at second in the Pacific Division behind the Vegas Golden Knights.

TSN's Ryan Rishaug caught up with Draisaitl on Saturday at the Winter Olympics in Milan, where he asked the German Olympic flag bearer for clarification on the comments he made regarding the team earlier in the week.

"Obviously, frustration was high after having lost three games in a row," Draisaitl said on Saturday. "At the end of the day, my message was 'we all need to be better.'

"I said it in that interview, I said our leadership group needs to be better, and talking about the leadership group - I'm part of that, so I can be a lot better. That goes for our coaches, that goes for everybody in our organization. We all have to step up."

Draisaitl told reporters following the game against the Flames that the league is too hard for the team to be lollygagging through games, and that improvement down the stretch starts with the coaches.

After allowing 16 goals in the three-game losing streak, Draisaitl also pointed out that the team is not defending well enough, and added that there are many things the team is not doing well enough to win.

The Oilers are coming off back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup final, where they were defeated by the Florida Panthers both times. Draisaitl told reporters on Wednesday that the team cannot rest on those laurels if they want to succeed this season, and he said that this year's Oilers are a "different team" that is "not as good right now."

"It's been an up-and-down year, but we have to find our game," Draisaitl reiterated on Saturday. "We want to be a team that wants to win the Stanley Cup, and at the end of the day, we need to have those expectations of ourselves ... We all, as a group, have to be better."

The Oilers sit just one point ahead of the Seattle Kraken and Anaheim Ducks, who each have two games in hand, with the three teams vying for the final two playoff spots in the Pacific Division. The Utah Mammoth and Los Angeles Kings are also in the thick of the race for the two wild-card slots in the Western Conference playoff picture entering the break, with four points separating the five teams.

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