Completely anecdotal, and you don't have to believe me.
I met a couple of NHLers at a pho restaurant in Vancouver.
They overheard my buddy and I talking about hockey and then he chuckled.. when we realised it was a 4th liner from the Sabres back in 2003.
We were talking to him for a bit, when I asked him why did Mike Comrie ask for a trade out of Edmonton? The guy was a literal king, his dad a billionaire, he grew up there... his friends n fam were all there.
He said he couldn't walk to a 7-11 without getting mobbed. People waited for him outside of bathroom stalls for his autograph.
Every time he went to a bar, some drunk asshole wanted to pick a fight with him.
He said Mike Comrie was a good guy, but only getting 1 goal in the playoffs had an entire city completely mad at him. The Stars had a payroll 3x the Oilers and Hatcher was literally allowed to bearhug him for all 6-games. The pressure for him to be Doug Weights heir-apparent didn't sit well with him at all. Then the rumors of him sleeping with Salo's wife, and all that other nonsense started coming up.
He told us Edmonton is a pressure cooker, and it's great for some players who thrive under those adverse conditions, but most players don't. It takes a certain type of personality to love it.
Anyways what I took from that short conversation, was that Edmonton being a blue-collar city LOVES their blue-collar players. We love our tough-as-nails, give 110% every shift players. Ryan Smyth, Doug Weight, Jason Smith types. Even if they're not talented enough to win, Oilers will seemingly forgive a bad team that gives 110%.
(Believe it or not, Gretzky didn't take many shifts off. Messier would throw someone through a wall if they took a shift off).
Till this day, Oiler will dogpile on Draisaitl for skating back slowly on the end of a shift, or any player that doesn't have their legs under them. We gave away Eberle for nothing because of a low-energy playoff performance.