Patrick O'Sullivan hasn't even been here a year yet, but he's been here long enough to know that he's a long way from Los Angeles.
With the Kings in town yesterday to remind him of his NHL roots, and reporters lined up at his dressing room stall to remind him of everything that's gone right or wrong this season, the difference between Hockey Country and Lotus Land becomes quite obvious.
"You're looking at one right now," he said, gesturing to the small army of writers, cameramen and talking heads who take over Edmonton's dressing room on game days.
"The circus that is the media every day here. The people here care so much about the team.
"In L.A. there's obviously so much going on and so much to do, there's not the attention. It's a different experience. Both have their good things and both have their bad."
In Edmonton, pleasure and pain are linked directly to wins and losses. Win and you're a rock star whose ego never runs out of fuel. Lose and, well, it's probably not a good idea to lose that much.
"I know playing here is fun when you're doing well, and when you're not doing well it's not so fun," said the 24-year-old forward, who came here at last year's trade deadline in a three-way swap with the Kings and Carolina Hurricanes.
"In L.A. you can kind of go under the radar. If the team is not doing well you can kind of keep it within the team and deal with it that way instead of having to expose everyone's problems."
So it's easier to crawl out of a slump when you're not under a microscope?
"I think it works both ways," he said. "Pressure is good, and there's definitely pressure here. It's a pressure that I think can help motivate a team, and it does.
"It's sometimes tough to get up for a game when nobody cares, to be honest. It can go either way."
