Doug Risebrough Quotations

Unrestricted free agency is not a savior. I've never seen an unrestricted free agent carry a team. But it is a tool.

We did it a year in advance, and we didn't get any credit for it.

We have a number of players who are third-, fourth- or fifth-year pros. It's their time. We're not sure what they're going to do, but we need to find out.

One role we've been trying to find is somebody at center who's hard working and kind of pesky. Erik's kind of done that at the U and done that as a pro. Maybe there's an opportunity to see what he can do in NHL.

I wouldn't have believed it. We are on a roll. But if you had told me that our team would be competing against all the teams that we played to date, yes, I would've believed that. Or that we would be playing hard -- yes. Or that they'd be close games -- yes. I think the difference is that all of those things have happened and some of those close games have gone in our favor.

Because of the split, I'm not sure if we've ever been able to find out what Manny can do. This year's been Manny's year. He's had exceptional years. This year will rival anybody else in the league.

If I was going to do it, then I'd probably do something with the veterans more than the rookies because they've been playing well and maybe they deserve a chance.

He's a guy that you know has played at a higher level before and maybe just hasn't found the right fit.

Going to the tournament and talking to him about the decisions he made and asking him how he put it together gave me a sense of his abilities. I talked to him (about the Wild management job) before this year's tournament and he said he couldn't talk about it until after the tournament.

He's been good this year, but I want to see him at another level.

I think he's going to be able to be better with these changes. Where he probably has an edge is with his speed. So if transition means you can go to the far blue line very quickly, there's probably very few people in the league that can get there as fast as him.

We put a player on waivers who wasn't playing and acquired a player that's played more and is younger. Let's see what he can do.

We're not going to add youth for youth's sake. Younger players will have to challenge younger players - not veterans - next year. And they'll have to be able to make an immediate contribution to the team.

We see this as a step that will continue to improve our team and help take us to the next level.

We have to fill in some blanks. We have the (financial) flexibility to fill in those blanks. Our plan has to be executed, not just over this summer, but over the next two years.

There's somebody who's going to say, 'I don't want to lose this guy so I'll put him out in four or five days' because they want to see what people might acquire.

The Wild's commitment to Manny and his commitment to the team are based upon his play this season, and his performance with the Wild ever since he started the first home game in team history on Oct. 11, 2000.

Teams are more comfortable now taking on the risk of development of players than they were three or four years ago. More teams are realizing young players aren't a detriment. To me, there's no difference between a player at 19 and someone who's 21.

Right now, we're not manufacturing enough goals. We're relying on our skills to score goals.

This is the group, and I want to see what they can do. I want to see how many games we can win, and who's contributing to the winning. One thing I've learned in hockey is there's no guaranteed jobs.

It was simple, the value was there in making the deal. It was a difficult trade to make so Kevin had to understand that the value was going to have to be more, even if it would have been less had I moved him somewhere else.

It's a way to get into the lineup.

In hindsight, probably more time would have been better. Maybe making sure everyone starts on the same night or relatively close.

I'm saying that the trade deadline is looming, and I'm not commenting about who I'm trading or not.

I maybe would have accepted less somewhere else. I think Edmonton knew that. I can always get players. I just felt the pick was better than players.

His confidence is high, and I think he knows how he can affect games now. There's still going to be games he doesn't do it as much, but that doesn't mean it's him as it is just the game. But he's got to be able to present it all the time, and if it is in the game and he doesn't, that's the inconsistency you're trying to eliminate.

He's trying to identify quality people and people who have won. He got it (leadership) in a package with those two.

He's injured. We don't anticipate him out long. That's the official line.

He and I will deal with it at the right time. It's been a good relationship. We both rely on each other. I'd say it's in the right place.

Andrei could really add to the team's physical character and make us that much tougher to play against. He has the opportunity to make a real impact here.

All those things have implications. You have to prioritize. Everything we do is for the long-term success of the franchise.

And he'll give his overall opinion on the state of the team.