Mike Barnett
Mike Barnett
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.
active bringing felt needed obviously players primary reduced scoring three trading
Trading three NHL players and bringing back one that's going to play on our roster at this point, we reduced our roster by two players. We're now down to 23 active players with two on IR. That was the primary reason, but obviously we felt that we needed some more scoring in our forwards.
bench effect player scoring taking
It can have the same effect on the bench as a player taking it end to end on a scoring rush,
appreciate brian certainly conference defensive ecstatic help incredible involved players playing race satisfied savor strong time
It certainly is something that I think over time the 23 players involved will come to savor and appreciate more than in the present, ... We're in an incredible divisional and conference race and they are ecstatic that they are able to help Brian make this long-standing mark. But they are more satisfied that they are out playing consistently strong defensive hockey.
appear bigger decision demands economics factor factors final length player players protected ruled salary today weigh
Many factors weigh into the final decision as to which players appear on the protected list. Economics today are a bigger factor than ever before. The desirability of any player is ruled by the salary he demands and the length of his contract.
ability cerebral dissect exploit insight opportunity pinpoint player weakness
He was such a cerebral player with an ability to dissect the opposing team, pinpoint its weakness and then exploit it. To me, this is an opportunity to get an insight into that mind.
both competition expect handed minutes welcome
They both welcome the competition for minutes and don't expect to have anything handed to them.
expect ice monday
We expect he'll be back on the ice by the weekend, Monday by the latest.
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.
hurrying injury position type
That type of injury at that position is one you don't even think about hurrying along.
bouncing good
You're bouncing around way too good out there.
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.