Doug Wilson Quotations

When we drafted him, people said he was probably the most ready for the NHL. But that to me was a bonus. It wasn't something we factored into when we decided to pick him. But he obviously played against men last year and played in the World Championships for the Czech team, and the thing that impressed me when he came in this summer is that he tested like a man in his physical testing. It transfers over to his game on the ice. He's a very mature player.

When we drafted him, people said he was probably the most ready for the NHL, ... But that to me was a bonus. It wasn't something we factored into when we decided to pick him. But he obviously played against men last year and played in the World Championships for the Czech team, and the thing that impressed me when he came in this summer is that he tested like a man in his physical testing. It transfers over to his game on the ice. He's a very mature player.

Ultimately it is going to take a certain number of points to get in. But staying in the present, I'm less concerned with that number and I'm more concerned with us playing the way we can. If we play the way we're capable of playing, the points will take care of themselves.

With those younger players, you saw their talent but they were always like secondary characters in a play, ... They never learned what it was like to be the go-to guy and they didn't think like that.

The reality is that we can't control where people are moving into. There are pains with the growth. I wish growth didn't have an impact on families, but it does.

The primary objective is to take care of your core group. We don't change how we've operated for the last couple of years. We certainly like where a lot of our own players are at, and it's an exciting time for this group.

She's a really nice lady, and she's a really talented coach. She was great with the kids, the best assistant I had in my eight seasons at Brown.

Obviously you'd like to coach a team like that, ... Everybody has their plates full right now with their own team, so I have no idea what anybody is doing. That is the farthest thing from my mind. But I sometimes think that winning the last World Cup didn't count for anything. I've coached a lot more games than most of the guys whose names I've read are being considered.

Niko is another highly skilled player who has shown he has the tools to flourish under the League's new rules, ... He has continued to improve his play each year and we look forward to him taking the next step in his development during the coming season.

I have been very pleased with his play and work ethic. When he was in junior he still had some of that baby fat, but he dedicated himself to his conditioning and that is a credit to him.

I'd like to thank Alex and Brian Lawton for notifying us of Alex's decision prior to the arbitration hearing tomorrow in Toronto. This was not unexpected and I respect Alex for making this family decision. This creates the opportunity for additional ice time for players like Marco Sturm, Niko Dimitrakos and Milan Michalek. If and when Alex decides to return to the National Hockey League, we look forward to him playing for the San Jose Sharks.

He had a tremendous impact on my life on many aspects of it, so it was very difficult, ... He was my defense partner, my roommate, my coach when I had my best year and then I worked at Coca-Cola with him for 10 years. So both personally and professionally he's had a profound influence on my life and it's tough to see his family going through this.

He has been successful with his experiences at several levels of play, including playing for the Czech National Team and representing the Czech Republic in the World Junior and World Championship tournaments. We feel he is ready to make the transition to professional hockey in North America.

This was not unexpected, and I respect Alex for making this family decision. This creates the opportunity for additional ice time for players like Marco Sturm , Niko Dimitrakos and Milan Michalek .

This was not unexpected and I respect Alex for making this family decision,

We are extremely pleased to extend Kyle's contract for three additional seasons, ... Kyle is a big, strong, punishing defenseman who is trending up in his career and he will continue to be one of our anchors on the back end.

He's a freak, ... totally off the charts.

Going to the bathroom is not a spectator sport.

Josh didn't do anything wrong, but this gives us some flexibility on our roster. This is the way the waiver rule should work. Players like that should be playing in this league. We had a good talk this morning.

I think it's the way it should be. If you get in, you have to beat the teams you're battling with and that's exciting. It should be in our own hands.

I think the skill that he has, either you have it or you don't have it. He's a winner and we're pretty excited to have him in here. It's nice to have a player of that caliber coming in, and that quality of a kid, too. He's not unknown to us. He's been around our guys, and our coaches know him very well.

Really, travel is not what it used to be, ... At the end of an airplane trip, everyone wants to stay at a nice hotel.

Our No. 1 goal is one thing, just regain the momentum we had when we finished. That I think we've done. And now it's the application.

I think he's purely earned it. Take a look at his experience; he's been to two Olympics, how many World Cups (2), and how many World Championships (2). I kind of expected this all along.

Most search firms try to do some type of survey to get a profile. It allows people to go through and articulate in their own words what they want in their next leader. Now, what we do is talk about the skill set and look at the people who are applying and people we know that are out there that we can pursue.

We're certainly not going to rush him. He's a young man who is a tremendously important player for us, so we're real glad that he's worked his tail off. He's not your typical 19 year old -- he's lived in an apartment by himself since he was 14 and he's a man both physically and mentally. But he will be back this season. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody rehab as hard as this.

We couldn't put it in the basket in the third quarter. We played catch-up after that, and every time we made a run they were able to answer.

We have more things to accomplish and more challenges ahead of us. We're building this to be a championship team and nothing less. You don't get ahead of yourself in any of that. I just know that I believe in these players. I believe in them strongly and that's why we gave them the opportunities.

We are in the race, there's no question about that.

we didn't come together as a membership and just wanted the company to come back to the table.

We planned to test the idea that magma chambers should be closest to the Earth's surface in crust formed at the fastest spreading rate.

We're not force-feeding anything into our lineup, ... Everyone's worried because we haven't signed any free agents but we thought we were adding some things from within our organization that actually are going to make us better.

This story has been written with different players - the names are now changed - over the last 10 years, ... There's more use of tissue today because orthopedic and neurosurgery are increasing because baby boomers are getting older. They want to remain active and golf and play tennis and jog five miles and keep their cholesterol levels down.

We're trying to put all the pieces together to win a Stanley Cup. The thing that excites me is to get a guy who has accomplished what he's accomplished, I think his best hockey is ahead of him.

We are excited to have Milan join the Sharks organization and look forward to having him in training camp. There is a reason we selected Milan at sixth overall in this year's draft.

Two things really impressed me, ... The coaches had great structure. And the fitness level of the players allowed us to get a real high tempo right away.

Finding the right place to drill was probably key to our success.

To me everybody has to share in the blame for the lack of success we had last year. The bottom line is that my job was to remove all the distractions and allow everybody to be completely focused on solely doing their job, having a great camp and getting ready for a great start. We don't dwell on last year anymore. We're excited about where we're at. To me how people respond to last year is the most important thing. I don't care about lip service. You can see the focus and the chance at redemption. Nobody wants to go through what they went through last year again.

We had three or four guys who simply weren't ready to play. That shouldn't happen. As a professional athlete you should take pride in every performance. It shouldn't take a period and then getting ripped between the first and second periods to kind of wake up.

Ville is an energy player who is gritty and hard to play against. He has provided a spark on every team he's played on and plays big in important games...he's a player you hate to play against but love to have on your team.

We are very pleased to have received funding for all the projects we forwarded to Washington,

Bob and Sharon Whitchurch have set the bar for customer service, and our goal is to build upon those high standards. We thank them for the opportunity to purchase their successful private business.

Every day is a trade deadline to me, so there's different ways of acquiring players. We look every day at options and opportunities that are there.

It would give us some flexibility to bring somebody up, give us options. Josh is a versatile player, but moving forward we want the flexibility.

The bottom line is we're here to win hockey games. I'll put our goaltending up against any team in the league. This gives us a lot of strength moving towards the end of the season where we have a lot of games to play.

This creates the opportunity for additional ice time for players like Marco Sturm, Niko Dimitrakos and Milan Michalek,

They had a team meeting which was at the right time by the right people. And what was said in that room stays in that room amongst the players. But at the end of the day what came out is: 'We're playing for each other.' I think that had a dramatic impact in that the players took over the team as they should. And they have not let each other down.

This is too good a group to not be in the playoffs. To take a step backward would have been really difficult.

There's always a transition period. We've played pretty well for a while. Unfortunately we put ourselves in a bit of a hole earlier in the year and now we're just trying to play up to our capabilities and see where it leads us.

It's going to be a very interesting month.

That's old-time hockey, ... I've played in plenty of those against Doug Wilson, Chicago-Minnesota ? 7-6, last shot wins. It's something I have to get used to as a coach. I've never been behind the bench for wide-open affairs like that. But, obviously, the entertainment value is there for fans.

They are hanging in there, ... They are a very strong and wonderful family.

I like our team, and I believe in our team a lot. I think we're all frustrated that we haven't performed up to our capabilities. I also know that sometimes you need some type of spark to get you going. Ville is that type of spark type of player.

I remember riding the same bus when Ken Williamson played.

I know it's a very volatile and painful experience. I'm sorry the people sitting in this room are the ones affected.

I know in our sport, ... you can win a Stanley Cup by doing what we're doing. Tampa Bay just did it.

He's an important part of this team in the present and the future, not only with his skating and physical presence, but he's taken on a leadership role,

I don't want to say he is just scratching the surface, because he's had some pretty good years, but there is another level to his game. He showed it in Dallas. He's showed it here.

I compare this to a go-cart race. It's go out there, race and have fun. If you run out of gas, that's no fun.

These are not young defensemen we have competing,

The games I've watched have been exciting. You can see the fans enjoying it. The new rules really encourage fast, fundamental play and punish mediocrity. That's what you want to see as a player.