EDMONTON -- Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer.

The phrase, originated by Sun Tzu and made popular by various other people (including but not limited to the 1990s animated Spider-Man cartoon, where I first heard it), is about keeping a close eye on your enemies so that you will be prepared for a surprise attack.

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For the Edmonton Oilers, a few former teammates are now enemies; chief among them is Warren Foegele.

He signed a deal with the Los Angeles Kings, the team the Oilers have spent the last three years opening the playoffs against. The team has become a bitter rival because of it. The team that the Oilers dislike as much as the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

And he signed for three years.

In an exclusive interview with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas for the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Foegele talked about which member of the Kings group he didn't like playing against the most.

"Three years of battling in the playoffs I think (Adrian) Kempe is probably the guy that was pretty annoying to play against," Foegele revealed to the duo. He compliments the forward by stating, "he's a skilled player but he plays hard too."

But signing with the Kings seemed to melt away the rivalry.

"The first day I got here," Foegele recounts, "he came right up to me and acted like there was nothing wrong."

Foegele didn't get off so easily with his former Oilers teammates.

"It was kinda funny when I signed with LA on July 1st, I had a couple of them come over up in Muskoka," Foegele reveals. "I had Bouchard and Ryan McLeod come over. My neighbor up there is Adam Henrique, so then he came over."

And they all had the same reaction.

"You had to choose the Kings out of anyone?" Foegele laughs as he remembers. "It was pretty funny, but they obviously understand that it's a business."

"There was some funny laughs that night."

Foegele used to sit beside Connor McDavid in the Oilers locker room. Now, he will be up close and personal with him on the ice.

It doesn't get much closer than that.

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