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
I think the idea of the obstruction through the neutral zone and away from the puck was an excellent rule.
But I just think as a captain, everybody's different.
I think now what you're seeing is guys that are in the peaks of their careers anywhere from 27 to 35 years old, seems to be when they play their best hockey.
As a captain, I think it's important that the players really know who you are and what you stand for, what your beliefs are, and to be consistent in those if things are going good or things are going bad.
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 never was brought into the league thinking as far as, you know, statistics, things like that. We were really brought into the league in a team concept. Everything was focused around winning.
I've never really spent a lot of time thinking about my individual accomplishments actually.
I think the thing you always got to keep in mind, you know, hockey is a game of one-on-one battles.
When you play long enough, everybody goes through spells and streaks and slumps of some nature. I think it's just one of the those things where you have to play yourself out of it.
All I was thinking was to try to figure out a way how to make the players believe that I believed that we were going to win.
I've never really thought about any individual records or anything like that for most of my career,
Besides, ... anyone who plays at 50-odd years old deserves that record.
I've always planned to be involved in the game, ... But I don't know in what capacity at this time. I'm going to be open to offers and suggestions and see what fits best.
I was ready for just about anything that anybody could throw at me. I was ready for the challenge of winning the Stanley Cup. I was ready for this city. I wasn't intimidated about coming to New York.