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Ference: “You’re obviously seeing a step in the right direction with the professionalism of the team, the battle.”

This in, Andrew Ference, captain of the Edmonton Oilers in the Dallas Eakins era, making it clear there was a culture problem on that pre-Peter Chiarelli era of the Oilers.

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Speaking to Bob Stauffer onOilers Now, Ference didn’t name any names, but ripped into how bad things were with the 2013-15 Oilers.

Ference is on the last year of his four-year deal and is out with a career-ending hip injury, but watches most games of the new Oilers team under the leadership of coach Todd McLellan and GM Peter Chiarelli.

Ference mentioned he sometimes visits the dressing room. “To see guys smiling, and just kind of that atmosphere of positivity, it’s really good. The atmosphere in the room had to change — beyond just losing. The vibe and just the attitude towards being a professional had to change, and that did. And Peter (Chiarelli) did that in Boston. He moved guys around that didn’t buy into the atmosphere that he wanted to create which he knows as a winner. And he did the same thing here… This year you’re obviously seeing a step in the right direction with the professionalism of the team, the battle, the way they’re playing on the ice, the way they’re acting in the city or down in the room… Just that culture, I can’t empathize it enough, how important it is to come into a room and to know that everybody has bought in and everybody is going to be there for each other.”