Mark Messier Quotations

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.

You always really have to remain consistent in your beliefs and philosophy.

The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I've put on myself.

My jersey hanging from the ceiling is going to be a symbol of the hard work of the people I played with.

Obviously every one of them was special to that particular team, all the people that were involved with it.

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.

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.

It's a tough game, and you never want to take that aspect out of the game.

I played with a lot of great players before. They're all the same. They take a lot of responsibility for their own play, put a lot of pressure on themselves to perform and to play well.

I think the thing you always got to keep in mind, you know, hockey is a game of one-on-one battles.

I've never really spent a lot of time thinking about my individual accomplishments actually.

I would never say one was more important or more gratifying than the next because there's a tremendous amount of work, as you know, that goes into winning a cup.

I haven't celebrated coming in No. 2 too many times.

Like I said, a 30-year-old hockey player, even when I came to New York when I was 30, I was on the downside of my career, pretty much the end of my career.

I think to compare any time you win a Stanley Cup would be unfair to all the players from all the teams.

We had built up a team in Edmonton that really knew who each other was from a personal standpoint and from a professional standpoint. Our nucleus had stayed together for a long time.

I was assistant in Edmonton with Wayne as captain, and Kevin Lowe was the other assistant.

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.

I think the idea of the obstruction through the neutral zone and away from the puck was an excellent rule.

Really the team often will take on the personality of its coach.

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.

Well, my transition into being a captain was easy.

If I had to compare any of the two, I'd compare the first one in Edmonton, the first one here in New York because it had been so long in New York since we had won. Obviously, being the first time to ever win the cup in Edmonton, they were fairly similar in that regard.

When I did play the most important thing for me was to win. And maybe winning just wasn't as important as it once was and I think once I really came to terms with that, that was kind of the deciding factor for me.

One of the best experiences I've had in hockey.

I wouldn't come back to play for that reason, ... I know that was talked about, but there has to be other reasons. I thought I achieved a lot in my 25 years and it was time to go.

I look up at the banner and I don't see a No. 11 with my name on it. I see all the things and all the people, my family, my parents, so many people who put me in this position to have my number retired. To me it's almost like a highlight reel when I look up there or a flashback of my life in some regards that I can look up there on any given day on any given moment and have something reoccur that was so special.

I don't think any one individual can stand alone.

He's as good as we've seen here, probably ever. He's done everything you could ask for from a star player.

I think it's always a little bit of a bittersweet feeling, I guess. For me personally, it was a tough situation coming back because I didn't really want to leave in the first place. So coming back, obviously, a lot of memories came through. I think it'll be probably the same for Brian.

Other than my dad, no one believed in me more and did more for me as a person and player.

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.

Besides, ... anyone who plays at 50-odd years old deserves that record.

I've never really thought about any individual records or anything like that for most of my career,

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.

A big part of me felt like I had had enough, achieved as much as I could achieve and I didn't feel there was a lot more for me to play for, ... Hockey Night in Canada.

It was a tough decision. I'm healthy and feel good and I feel like I can play.

It was a tough decision because I'm healthy and I feel good. I've achieved a lot and there was really nothing left for me to achieve.

It's great to see them playing like this. The Garden is an amazing place to play, especially when you're winning. There's no other place like it.

I've had a long career, I achieved a lot, there was nothing left for me to achieve, and it's time to move aside and go on to something else.

I've had a long career and I've achieved a lot and there was nothing left for me to really achieve. It was time for me to move aside and go into something else.

I'm looking at it, I guess, as a celebration. Can't you tell I'm celebrating?

I never thought about any individual records. Coming back to break any records, especially that record, wasn't all that appealing to me.

If you ask anybody around here for those years, nobody would have a bad word to say about Brian Leetch.

I hear about it every day, every day,

I really had the time to take my time and see how I felt,

I had conversations with Kevin and he's a good friend, but I thought it best to just stay in New York and announce my retirement here,

I just feel really good about the decision, ... I've had a year and a half to think about it. . . . It's the right thing to do.

But I felt that I was fairly confident in what it took to win a Stanley Cup coming off five Cups in seven years, ... And I was lucky to be a part of a team that was willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the team.

I came into the league as a fourth-line grinder that played a limited role,

Coaching really is an individual philosophy.

When Wayne was traded, I became captain. For me it really wasn't anything - I didn't do anything or I didn't feel I had to do anything different than what I had been doing all along.

Biologically, I'm 10. Chronologically, I'm 33. In hockey years, I'm 66.

There was a time there in the mid '80s to the '90s there that we played six finals, three Canada Cups, we were playing hockey almost 10 months a year for a long time there.

When I left here I left everything here. It's time to move on

I started as a fourth-line fighter, went to being a third-line centre, then a second-line winger and a first-line centre. I've played every role there is, and the only thing that matters is helping the team win.

25 years later, you know, I haven't really put too much emphasis on any kind of individual goal, other than trying to win any particular night, trying to find a way to do that.

Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the action in the face of fear.

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.

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