from Scott Burnside of the Daily Faceoff,

There was a time when a veteran reporter like Jim Matheson in Edmonton, a member of the media arm of the Hockey Hall of Fame I might add, would have walked into the Edmonton Oilers locker room on an off day and maybe waited until the television cameras moved on, and sat down next to Leon Draisaitl and asked him about the many problems afflicting the slumping Edmonton Oilers.

Maybe Matheson, whom I have known and respected as a true pro since I got in this business almost 25 years ago, would have asked the same questions he asked Tuesday. Questions that were recorded in our new Zoom life and immediately digested, debated and digested and debated some more by folks on social media, the vast majority of whom have never had occasion to speak to a pro athlete, let alone ask one of the best players in the world why his team sucks.

That’s not an indictment of the commentary necessarily. Hey, it’s social media. Have at it, although it always infuriates me when other ‘journalists’ weigh in on these kinds of situations in what I can only assume is an effort to curry favor with their social media tribe. Don’t you have anything better to do? But I digress.

More than highlight the manner in which the Edmonton Oilers’ season has gone down the rabbit hole, Tuesday’s awkward interchange reinforces the great disconnect that has been created and exacerbated in these pandemic times between the player, coaches and executives of NHL teams and the reporters whose job it is to try and share the stories, good and bad, with the fans who are the lifeblood of the game.

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