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Leon Draisaitl, Oilers reporter blast each other in wild exchange

Oilers star Leon Draisaitl and longtime beat reporter Jim Matheson had a heated exchange for the ages on Tuesday.

After a long string of losses and just overall poor play, Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl was put in front of the media to try and explain why Edmonton has only earned five points since Dec. 1.

One beat writer in particular did not like the answers Draisaitl was giving, creating this exchange for the ages — a classic clash between player and reporter that might be shown on Top 10’s for the next decade.

Jim Matheson, who has covered the team since its inception into the WHA in 1973, really did not care for any sort of reporter-player balance on Tuesday.

After being flippant when confronted with the typical question: asking a currently-bad team what they need to work on, Draisaitl just wanted to kill a blanket question with a blanket answer.

“We have to get better at everything,” he said.

Matheson wanted more, and asked for the player to expand on his answer, which Draisaitl promptly shot down and even added a snappy “you can do that, you know everything” as a dig to Matheson's writing.

Then the crowning moment of this clip happened — shooting off fireworks in my brain for the pure joy it brought me as an onlooker.

The reporter then asked Leon Draisaitl, one of the best players in the NHL, why he has to be “so pissy.” Of course the player shot it down as simply answering the lazy question. Matheson then powered through the poor Oilers PR person trying to end the availability, and asked whether Draisaitl showing frustration on the ice against the Senators earlier is a good thing or not.

The Edmonton Oilers are simply a soap opera and while we shouldn’t be cheering on reporters who ask these questions and get this agitated, no one can deny it is so delightfully entertaining to those on the outside.

Next, the Oilers face the NHL's best offensive team in the Florida Panthers on Thursday, so that should go swimmingly.

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