Doug Risebrough
Doug Risebrough
Douglas John Risebroughis a former player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League. In his 31 years in the NHL, he has been involved with the Stanley Cup Playoffs 25 times. He is currently a pro scout for the New York Rangers...
against believed close competing difference games gone happened hard played playing team teams
I wouldn't have believed it. We are on a roll. But if you had told me that our team would be competing against all the teams that we played to date, yes, I would've believed that. Or that we would be playing hard -- yes. Or that they'd be close games -- yes. I think the difference is that all of those things have happened and some of those close games have gone in our favor.
center hard maybe opportunity role somebody trying
One role we've been trying to find is somebody at center who's hard working and kind of pesky. Erik's kind of done that at the U and done that as a pro. Maybe there's an opportunity to see what he can do in NHL.
agency agent carry free seen
Unrestricted free agency is not a savior. I've never seen an unrestricted free agent carry a team. But it is a tool.
credit year
We did it a year in advance, and we didn't get any credit for it.
number players sure
We have a number of players who are third-, fourth- or fifth-year pros. It's their time. We're not sure what they're going to do, but we need to find out.
blue edge far fast few league line means people transition
I think he's going to be able to be better with these changes. Where he probably has an edge is with his speed. So if transition means you can go to the far blue line very quickly, there's probably very few people in the league that can get there as fast as him.
acquired played player playing
We put a player on waivers who wasn't playing and acquired a player that's played more and is younger. Let's see what he can do.
add challenge immediate next players veterans younger youth
We're not going to add youth for youth's sake. Younger players will have to challenge younger players - not veterans - next year. And they'll have to be able to make an immediate contribution to the team.
fill next plan
We have to fill in some blanks. We have the (financial) flexibility to fill in those blanks. Our plan has to be executed, not just over this summer, but over the next two years.
five four guy lose might people somebody
There's somebody who's going to say, 'I don't want to lose this guy so I'll put him out in four or five days' because they want to see what people might acquire.
games guaranteed hockey learned
This is the group, and I want to see what they can do. I want to see how many games we can win, and who's contributing to the winning. One thing I've learned in hockey is there's no guaranteed jobs.
difficult kevin less moved somewhere trade understand value
It was simple, the value was there in making the deal. It was a difficult trade to make so Kevin had to understand that the value was going to have to be more, even if it would have been less had I moved him somewhere else.
It's a way to get into the lineup.
based commitment game history home performance since team wild
The Wild's commitment to Manny and his commitment to the team are based upon his play this season, and his performance with the Wild ever since he started the first home game in team history on Oct. 11, 2000.