I was an offensive defenseman. I was up the ice as much as I was back.
I think the thing you always got to keep in mind, you know, hockey is a game of one-on-one battles.
When we've got the puck, they can't score.
I like to have the puck when I have speed. You know, then I'm dangerous.
In the K.H.L., you're even more patient at your position because the rink is so big, you cannot play that way.
I told (Anze) Kopitar 'You aren't touching the puck enough. I don't like your breakout.' I think Kopitar can make magic with the puck
Obviously the more pucks you get to the net, the more the percentages go up.
Obviously, you want to demand the puck; you want to have it as much as you can because you feel like good things can happen when it's on your stick.
Sometimes when you start playing games you don't get as many practices and you don't get as many touches. People think you have the puck the whole time during a game - you really don't.
I think when I first came into the League, I was blowing the zone all the time, just kind of expecting pucks to get out. You learn very quickly that you can't be doing that.
The shoot-and-chase approach had become big in hockey. Teams would come up to the blue line and shoot the puck around our boards deep in our zone, then swarm in after it forechecking, trying to regain possession.
Being solid in your own zone, being a good faceoff guy, those are things that are all important as you go deep in the playoffs.
Goal scorers are always sniffing things out, but once they realize 'hey, if I don't have the puck I can't score,' then you have to be a part of the solution so you can get it back so you can score.
I think the idea of the obstruction through the neutral zone and away from the puck was an excellent rule.
