Quotes from Barry Trotz

The guys who don't get a lot of minutes, you get a lot more practice, you're on the ice, you're getting maybe a better workout, though you might not be getting all of the game stuff.

At the same time, preparation is important to playoff success.

I think I have a lot more respect for someone who will be bold enough to say, 'I'm the leader of the hockey team, we're going to go there and give our best game and we're going to win the hockey game.'

You need balance, and if you have dynamic people - I've always tried to assess the talent and say, 'Okay, how can we get better as a group and how can we win hockey games?'

It's life, it's hockey. You just can't worry about it.

The Kings played out of the Memorial Community Centre, an old wooden barn like you'd see in other Prairie towns. It was built after World War II and the Kings were the biggest thing in town. The Memorial was packed for every game - maybe 3,000 when we'd play the Kenora Muskies or other rival towns. It seemed like everyone in town came out to games.

We might have, with Hockey Canada, an Aero Bar, a chocolate bar. 'Okay we're going to play for this chocolate bar.' Here you have guys who made millions of dollars, they're professional athletes, and they will fight tooth and nail to win. It's not necessarily for the chocolate bar. It's the competitive spirit.

Injuries happen every season. We can't rely on that being a crutch. It's up to all of us to do our best to fill those voids as coaches and players.

If you get goaltending above the curve, you have an immense advantage.

Just because you get punched in the nose doesn't mean that you throw in the towel.

For my size, I think I played bigger than my size. I tried to play bigger, which is probably why I got as injured as I did.

I'm an Islander. I appreciate the ownership and the fans and the players, the trainers, coaches, all the people that were involved and the success that we had together.

My father, Orest, worked as a mechanic for the CNR and he got transferred to Dauphin from Winnipeg.

You can be a great skater, you can have really good puck skills, but the ability to problem-solve is, to me, key.

Joining the Islander family and living on the Island has been special.

Part of the greatness of being on the Island is it's a smaller community; all of the players live within a couple miles of each other. It really promotes that family sort of atmosphere without being engulfed by the big city.

One of the blessings of Notre Dame is where it's at. It's in the middle of nowhere, but you become part of the community. It's a lifestyle, and it has a code, and that code teaches young men and women responsibility and leadership.

Just like all young players, there is a difference between being involved and just participating.

Back-to-back Presidents' Trophies, I don't think that happens too often.

The team takes on the identity of its top payers... I don't want to take anything away from the Capitals offensively.

Goal scorers are always sniffing things out, but once they realize 'hey, if I don't have the puck I can't score,' then you have to be a part of the solution so you can get it back so you can score.

You make mental notes. You're a coach, so you make mental notes from matchups, to who steps up in the playoffs to who doesn't, different types of players.

Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.

I've been watching the growth of Auston Matthews, for instance. If he were playing 20 years ago, we'd be saying he's Mario Lemieux-like. He's 6-foot-5. He skates great. He's got unbelievable hands and a hockey IQ.