Mike Barnett
Mike Barnett
gretzky head interested last obviously spoke step wayne
I spoke with Wayne Gretzky last night. There's obviously speculation that he will step in and be our head coach. I know he's still very interested in the position.
expect ice monday
We expect he'll be back on the ice by the weekend, Monday by the latest.
backs best building captain critical ideal leadership night players role seized seriously situation takes team year
Doan seized upon the opportunity. The ideal situation is when you have a captain who not only takes on the off-ice leadership role seriously as he has, but backs it up each and every night on the ice. And he and our two goaltenders have been our best players all year long. The accountability they have to each other is really something big that is building every week, and it's critical if you are going to have any team success.
backs best building captain critical ideal leadership night players role seized seriously situation takes team year
Doan seized upon the opportunity, ... The ideal situation is when you have a captain who not only takes on the off-ice leadership role seriously as he has, but backs it up each and every night on the ice. And he and our two goaltenders have been our best players all year long. The accountability they have to each other is really something big that is building every week, and it's critical if you are going to have any team success.
actively along balance burned capable good hit hits league opponent opportunity percent physical potential punishing seize solid themselves
Most of the big, physical defensemen in the league are capable of punishing an opponent along the wall, ... The good ones hit with balance and don't overextend themselves . . . . But of the many solid defensemen in the NHL that do that on a nightly basis, there's probably only 10 percent that actively look for open-ice hits because there's a lot more potential to get burned if you don't seize the right opportunity and, secondly, execute. Gauthier's one of those players.
decision regret respect seeing
While we respect the decision Brett has made today, we regret seeing him go,
captain clearly decision ideally level looked period skill step support
What you look for in a captain is pretty obvious. You look for someone who's been with the organization for a period of time, who has the durability to be in your lineup each and every night, who has the skill level to back up their comments, ideally with ruggedness to step up and support his teammates. We looked at all those things, and clearly the decision was unanimous.
captain clearly decision ideally level looked period skill step support
What you look for in a captain is pretty obvious, ... You look for someone who's been with the organization for a period of time, who has the durability to be in your lineup each and every night, who has the skill level to back up their comments, ideally with ruggedness to step up and support his teammates. We looked at all those things, and clearly the decision was unanimous.
excited retirement seen since
From that day on, I haven't seen him as recharged and excited since he retired.
bird great job philosophy plane playing reflected style talking team wayne
On the plane home, Wayne went to great lengths talking about how great a job Bird was doing, and about how the team was playing a style that reflected his own philosophy as a player,
achieving alone attention aware brian confidence deflect entire four front guys hard needed paying positions remarkably scoring seeing style success taking team
Now we're really seeing even the byproduct of the style that he's comfortable with and the confidence that comes from winning. We're achieving the success as a team that comes from 23 guys paying attention to team defense. We're not taking anything from what Brian has remarkably been able to accomplish, because it's extraordinarily hard to get a shutout, period, let alone to think of four in a row. But it really is an entire roster sacrificing anything and everything needed to get in front of pucks or deflect pucks or controlling positions defensively to be aware of taking away scoring opportunities.
age mix mobility seven style weapons
We like the mix of the seven we have now. Some of their weapons are their mobility and their skill, and in the others, it's their physicality. They're not all the same style or the same age or of the same background.
both competition expect handed minutes welcome
They both welcome the competition for minutes and don't expect to have anything handed to them.
best good holding last playing stronger
We have a really good team. We're stronger than ever, a lot stronger than we were last year. We're playing the best we can and we're holding our own.