Mike O'Connell Quotations

Many of the free agents could have gone somewhere else for the money. But I think they liked what we had.

Ian is healthy, he has been cleared to play by the doctors and we look forward to having him back on our team.

We're pleased that we were able to come to this agreement in advance of the arbitration process. We recognize that Hal is an important part of our defense and is one of our steadiest and most reliable players.

He's got some good offensive skill. He's still learning the game. It's a little different level up here at this time of year. But he definitely has a chance.

He wants a better opportunity. I think he looks at our team and sees he's not going to be able to make our team. I don't know what it is. I think he just wants a change of scenery.

I think we have the ability to get something done with both of them to get them in. I think we're a little closer to getting something done with Boynton, but I don't know when it might happen with either one of them.

Part of it was the uncertainty of not being able to sign him. If it comes to the summer and he wants to come back, we'll listen. ... I wasn't sure of which way he wanted to go.

Our offense will be our strength. We have a team that's going to have the puck. We have some speed. I believe that most of our team will benefit from that.

Our defense was great in the first half. We were just mixing things up with them. Obviously, it worked. ... It was fun to see this group come together tonight and play with a lot of heart.

What it turned into was hockey's version of fast-break basketball.

You have to try to create some stability. I think that's important. P.J.'s been here for a while and I'm glad he's still here.

We felt we needed to shake up the team and, sometimes, you have to make some difficult decisions to better the team.

We're going to wait and see how it plays out,

I've talked to a number of teams. There is interest in him. We'll see if we can accommodate him. We'll try to find a trade. If we can't, then it's up to him whether he wants to come to training camp and try to make the team. We like him, absolutely.

Ray will work with the team in practice in Boston two to four times a week and Mike Sullivan will decide how his role will evolve.

A tryout never hurt anything. I talked to his agent and told him if Byron was interested in doing it, we'd be interested. I don't know what will come of it. We're just keeping options open.

The whole family gets involved. When I was a kid we all participated. Now my kids are taking part.

You could see in the fourth quarter, we were just in scramble mode. We were just trying to run around, trying to get steals, and it's extremely tiring. It's not fun to play catch-up like that.