Mark Messier
Mark Messier
Mark Douglas Messieris a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League and former special assistant to the president and general manager of the New York Rangers. He played a quarter of a century in the NHLwith the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks. He also played professionally with the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers. He was the last former WHA player to be active in professional hockey, and the last active...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth18 January 1961
CityEdmonton, Canada
CountryCanada
It's a tough game, and you never want to take that aspect out of the game.
I think to compare any time you win a Stanley Cup would be unfair to all the players from all the teams.
I just think overall a lot of it has to do with conditioning and players putting in the time and the effort in the off-season to keep themselves in condition for 12 months a year.
I was assistant in Edmonton with Wayne as captain, and Kevin Lowe was the other assistant.
If I had to compare any of the two, I'd compare the first one in Edmonton, the first one here in New York because it had been so long in New York since we had won. Obviously, being the first time to ever win the cup in Edmonton, they were fairly similar in that regard.
Really the team often will take on the personality of its coach.
Obviously every one of them was special to that particular team, all the people that were involved with it.
I'm looking at it, I guess, as a celebration. Can't you tell I'm celebrating?
I never thought about any individual records. Coming back to break any records, especially that record, wasn't all that appealing to me.
I've had a long career, I achieved a lot, there was nothing left for me to achieve, and it's time to move aside and go on to something else.
I've had a long career and I've achieved a lot and there was nothing left for me to really achieve. It was time for me to move aside and go into something else.
It's great to see them playing like this. The Garden is an amazing place to play, especially when you're winning. There's no other place like it.
Besides, ... anyone who plays at 50-odd years old deserves that record.
I've never really thought about any individual records or anything like that for most of my career,