The tough part now is that we're in a different situation than we were in 2002. We just missed one full season and I know there's probably some concerns from owners, probably more in the United States, in the sense of getting started again and trying to build that enthusiasm for the National Hockey League again and then having to shut it down for 17 days. |
Their goaltender made some key saves in the second period. If not for that, we could have been tied up. |
There is so much parity in the game, there are so many teams that are stronger, and it is much tougher to get 400 wins now. There is such a fine line between winning and losing, so to accomplish something like that in this era is pretty special. |
There's a couple of other guys out there we're talking to. We like some kids that are unrestricted in college right now ... that had good years coming out of college hockey. It's a fine line. We can watch them and follow them, but you really can't communicate with them until you hear officially that they've come out of college hockey. |
There's going to be a lot of good unrestricted free-agent defensemen (available) this summer. We're in the game for those guys now. We have the opportunity to bring in some impact players. |
There's more depth this time, no question. |
There's no bubble for Stevie Y, |
There's no bubble for Stevie Y. If he's not playing great, and his knee is bothering him, he'd be the first guy to tell me. |
There's no guarantee but let's be honest, if you're going to go to war right now, Marty's been the most reliable of any goaltender in hockey since Patrick Roy. Simple as that, |
There's no perfect coach in the world. Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you're sound, you eliminate as many mistakes as possible. |
There's no room for it, |
There's no story about me, that's what I keep trying to tell you. I'm not involved. |
There's so much depth in our country, that's a positive. ...The question now is from those 81 players, putting the right 23 together that will be successful. |
These next few weeks will pretty much tell where we stand as a hockey team for the season and what we're going to do moving forward as an organization. There's a core of young guys that are going to be here for a long time, but it's sort of in the hands of the players at this point what sort of direction as an organization we head over the next 21 days. |
They just kept coming at us, and we didn't respond the way we had to respond to win. |