Paul Coffey Quotations

Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top.

Outdoor hockey is what it is all about.

I went on and was still able to play some good hockey.

There's only a couple stats that matter. No one cares how many blocked shots a guy has, how many hits.

I didn't spend a whole lot of time here, but I had the seven best years of my career in this city and having an attachment here 20-some odd years later is pretty special to me.

Before you become successful, you have to fall down on your face.

I have great memories of my years in Edmonton and the players who were my teammates.

Sight is something you take for granted until you think you might lose it.

Leadership is one of sports' intangibles. Guys can score, guys can fight, guys can skate faster than anybody else. But not everybody can say, 'Follow me.'

Having Wayne in town will be exciting enough.

I was a natural skater, but I also took private lessons to enhance my skills.

Anyone that coaches their son, you expect more out of your boy. I'm not talking about stats, but I expected him to be the hardest worker out there.

I don't think longevity gets enough credit when you're talking about a player.

My mother passed away of complications of dementia. As you get older, it really makes you realize how many people are touched by this disease.

There are certain guys that think they know hockey because they follow it on the Internet.

You learn by playing a great team, and I'm talking about character things, not hockey technique.

People ask me all the time now, what's the most memorable moment of your career? It's always the championships. The first goal, the 50th - it doesn't matter. It's always the championships.

That feeling in the dressing room after you win - nothing comes close to that. You can't get that in any other career. Maybe in the stock market back in the '80s when people were making tons of money, maybe they felt something similar. Maybe. But look at the market now. Nothing gives you that emotion like sports. Nothing. Am I wrong?

Wayne was such a big part of my career here in Edmonton as well as everybody's that I think that having him in the building is just icing on the cake,

When the sweater was going up, there were a lot of things going through my mind.

Simple philosophy: be on time, come to the rink ready to play. And we pretty much did that all the time and pretty much learned as we went.

My father used to tell me the game is not privileged to have you, you're privileged to have hockey,

A night like this wouldn't have been possible without the help of a lot of people. It takes a team to accomplish the banners that are up here in this building.

It's a great tribute to be joining such an elite group of players. I have great memories of my years in Edmonton, and the players who were my teammates. We were a tight bunch, and I'm honored that my contribution to the team will be celebrated in Oilers fashion.

It's a great tribute to be joining such an elite group of players.

It popped up and over. It's not like you could see it coming in. Next thing you know it was just buzzing us. It seemed to come out of nowhere.

It's impossible for me to go back and put on that hockey sweater again.

I remembered back to Italy about six years ago when fighter jets clipped the gondola. Twelve people were killed. That incident flashed into my mind. Everyone's jaws just dropped. No one believed it. It was one of those strange things you don't expect - next thing you know there's a plane going over the building.

Leadership is one of sports intangibles. Guys can score, guys can fight, guys can skate faster than anybody else. But not everybody can say, Follow me.

When we've got the puck, they can't score.

Hockey s a funny game. You have to prove yourself every shift, every game. It's not up to anybody else. You have to take pride in yourself.