The games were on Wednesday and I would drive to St. Catharines, and then drive home to fax Keenan a scouting report. Mike would use it for the practice on Thursday and the game on Friday.

People are discounting L.A. because of the players they've lost. But they've got a great coach and I think Pavol Demitra, with no red-line, is going to be huge. Same with Valeri Bure. And I'm looking forward to watching Mike Cammalleri play in the NHL. He had an awesome year in the AHL. And Mathieu Garon's going to be really solid in net.

As coaches, you so badly want to be able to help your team, ... We used to put so much effort into our warmup drills. People used to tell us, 'guys, it doesn't matter how this team warms up. You've got the wrong Hull, (Jody instead of Brett) and the wrong Turgeon (Sylvain instead of Pierre).'

He's going to have a huge impact in Edmonton because the team has never had a stopper defenseman, ... Now he is the division's ultimate stopper.

There are people who might complain about the so-called old boys network. My advice is to become part of the network. Volunteer to help, get involved. Hockey people tend to take care of hockey people.

Even though he's not on the ice, I think Brian Burke will make a big difference there. Scotty Niedermayer, if he's not the best player in the league, he's definitely the best defenceman. The power-play should be real effective and without the red-line, Peter Sykora and Sergei Federov are going to have big years. They'll also have an infusion of youth with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

I think they're a year away from taking another step forward. Their young players are good but they lost a real good scorer in Andrew Brunette. Once the younger guys develop, they'll be a team a lot like Nashville in terms of turning it up another notch.

I think being behind the glass gives you a real feel for the game at ice level.