The Edmonton Oilers playoff run might have ended earlier than anyone in Edmonton wanted, but if you listen to the guys walking out the door, temporarily, they'd each tell you, the mood isn't exactly bitter.
It sounds a lot like 'please bring me back.'
For teams no longer pushing for a cup, July tends to be cold and transactional, as teams attach a dollar sign to a player's value and impactful players must ask themselves whether they truly wish to stay where they are. But the other side of this tells the story of a team that clicked, even when the results didn't follow.
"I loved playing here," began Jason Dickinson. "The crowd is amazing. The organization treats you fantastic. The city feels like home. You know, I was saying to my wife, it kind of feels like we're just driving around home playing hockey, and everything feels so natural. So yeah, I love it here, and it'd be something I'm willing to talk to them (the Oilers) about and get something moving."
Dickinson was everything a contender needs at the bottom of a lineup and rarely gets. He was a faceoff centre who kills penalties, eats the hard minutes and never needs the spotlight to feel compensated. When that guy looks you in the eye and says it feels like home, you call him back before the drive out of the parking lot is over.
Connor Murphy arrived in Edmonton as a trade deadline piece and left sounding like a man who stumbled into something he hadn't felt in a while.
"I had a great experience here, and I don't have anything bad to say," said Murphy "Being in Chicago for nine years was great and built such a close-knit bond with that city, community and team, but to have a new challenge and new staff and people to learn off of and feed off of is really unique and fun to experience at any point in your career.
"They've given me a lot of jump and a lot of insight and a lot of things that push me now to take on new challenges."
Murphy is 32 and has seen enough of this league to know the difference between a good situation and a real one.
He also laid out his free agency priorities with a directness you don't always get.
"Winning is obviously a priority, I hope for everyone," said Murphy. "I've been on bottom teams for a lot of years and it's brutal. You feel like you're just passing time. To have had that chance here has been awesome, and is definitely my main priority, to be part of a good group that can compete and go on deep runs.
"There's always a business side, and there's always a fit. My wife has really loved it and gelled with all the wives and girlfriends here already. When that all gels, I think that's really important for it to fit."
Winning is the ceiling. For a defenceman who spent the better part of a decade watching playoff hockey from his couch, Connor McDavid and a legitimate contender are not nothing. That's a hard thing to walk away from by choice.
"I mean, I really enjoyed my time here," said Connor Ingram. "I'd love to be back. I pay a guy to have those conversations for me."
All true.
Ingram played well in a goaltending situation that needed someone steady, earned credibility in a market that eats netminders alive, and wants to return, presumably. The Oilers need to solve the crease this summer in a real way. Ingram might be less complicated than anything else out there.
"I do consider this home," said Kasperi Kappanen. "My son was born here, so it's a special place. If it was up to me, I'd love to come back. Hopefully it wasn't my last game as an Oiler."
Kapanen had an unfortunate amount of injuries this season, but he also brought a gear that almost nobody else on this roster possesses. He knows what he wants.
It's hard to glean the real wants of pending UFAs in their exit interview after just being booted out of the playoffs, but Edmonton has become an organization that wants nothing but to win. So do most players.
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