Trent Frederic makes candid admission after difficult first year with the Oilers
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Frederic admits he lost himself after his big extension, and now a healthy body and Babcock's arrival offer him a real reset.
Trent Frederic's words this week carried more weight than a typical midsummer check in.
Speaking with Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now, Frederic admitted he felt as close to fully healthy as he's been since his ankle injury, and that the timing lines up with a chance to actually reset his career in Edmonton.
“I think after break, I think I would say I was probably as close as 100% as I had been before the injury. But yeah, I think like going back to the last summer, I probably wasn't able to skate until, geez, right around probably now (mid-August) I just barely started getting on the ice again. So I think this summer is - it's unfortunate that we lost early - but it's been great for myself just to get a full summer of training hard and really skating and at 100%. So it'll be good.”
“I don't think I started off great. And like you said, I think I got lost and just kind of lost who I was. And I didn't really have much of an identity. So hopefully, I've gained some confidence just getting away from the game and just enjoying it right now in the summer and having fun and working out and everything. So I'm just excited to come back next year and just have a fresh start. I'm pretty excited to have Babs (new coach Mike Babcock) and get kind of a complete fresh slate. So I'm excited about that.”
- Trent Frederic
“I don't think I started off great. And like you said, I think I got lost and just kind of lost who I was. And I didn't really have much of an identity. So hopefully, I've gained some confidence just getting away from the game and just enjoying it right now in the summer and having fun and working out and everything. So I'm just excited to come back next year and just have a fresh start. I'm pretty excited to have Babs (new coach Mike Babcock) and get kind of a complete fresh slate. So I'm excited about that.”
- Trent Frederic
It's a simple sounding update, but it lands differently when you consider everything that came before it.
Last June, the Oilers handed Frederic an eight year contract worth $30.8 million dollars, an extension that locks him in through the 2032-33 season.
It was one of the more debated moves of the offseason.
Frederic had shown flashes of physical, meaningful hockey in Boston and during Edmonton's Cup run, but an eight year term for a bottom six forward is the kind of bet that either ages gracefully or becomes a talking point every trade deadline for the next decade.
A tough first year in Edmonton
What followed was a rough introduction.
Frederic dealt with the lingering effects of his injury, never quite found a rhythm, and by his own admission lost track of who he was as a player.
For a guy earning nearly four million a year on term, that kind of season invites scrutiny fast, and it did.
Babcock inherits a project with real stakes
Now Mike Babcock steps in as the new voice behind the bench, inheriting a player who says he's healthy and motivated but who also carries eight years of financial commitment on his back.
Frederic sounds optimistic.
Whether that optimism translates into results will say plenty about how this contract is remembered.
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