Don Waddell Quotes (50 Quotes)

One of our scouts said he was the best amateur goalie he had seen in the past 10 years.

He's the ultimate competitor. He's capable of being a part of this team. He plays all the hard minutes in Detroit.

His all-around game has been especially good. That's why he's warranted more ice time, because he's played solid at both ends of the ice. I thought he was capable of playing good defense because he's a smart player. When you grow up in Russia, you learn to play defense, even if you are an offensive player. We knew he was capable of it.

We all talk about how we've been in a transition period. ... We have a lot of good young players and a lot of guys coming in, and we can take the positives out of that.

Chris' name was the first name mentioned by everyone. That just speaks volumes for how he's respected in the game of hockey. He does everything at a high level. There was no other choice for us but to pick Chris.

It was the right thing to do at this time. I'm not nervous about it because I'm around our team so much and I know our team very well. I've seen every game this year and I haven't missed anything, so I feel like short-term I'm best prepared to run the bench.

We're extremely excited to add a player of Bobby's caliber to our lineup. He's a hard-nosed player who has enjoyed a distinguished career that includes valuable Stanley Cup championship experience. He is a veteran who will play an important role in our success.

We're very excited, you know, and Ilya is the final piece we had to get done. I've said all along, 'We're going to score some goals.' Watching some of what's happened with the guys we've brought in here and not knowing exactly how they would do, I think we're going to win a lot of hockey games this season.

The selection process was an extremely difficult one and that's a terrific statement for hockey in the United States. It means our talent pool in this country continues to grow.

We're confident that it'll be reported back to us within the next 24 hours. Once they OK it, they'll just send us an e-mail immediately, and then the paperwork will follow in a few days. Once we get that, he'll be good to go.

Some guys show up when you tell them to, like two hours before a game or a practice, but Chelios will be there three or four hours earlier than that. I wish all players in the NHL had the passion and drive that Chris Chelios has for the game.

But I did think we would score more than we are now. We've gotten chances to score, and we haven't buried them. And you don't get as many scoring chances in this type of tournament as you get in the National Hockey League.

The process will begin when the season begins. This is an orientation camp, it's not a tryout camp that we're having.

I hope he plays all the games and I hope we're paying the whole thing.

He understood it. It's part of the business. He wishes he could have done more. Hes hoping only for the best for all of us that are involved here. I thought he handled it very well, but it was very emotional for him.

I don't know exactly how it happened. From what I've been told, he caught a rut or something and parts of his knee cap shattered off. His doctor says it's the kind of accident you normally see in a car accident.

Not only do we feel we have a lot of speed and the grit, but enough scoring. We think our depth on defense is as good as it's ever been. And when you get in these short tournaments, a hot goaltender can lead you a long ways.

Peter has proven himself through the ranks as a coach. This is the next challenge for him. I think he's very capable and ready to handle these duties. I always felt that international experience is a key for this type of position, and Peter certainly brings that to the table.

He has rehabbed very well so far and if it continues the way it's going we're anticipating maybe practicing in the next four to five weeks with the team. And then we're probably still two or three months away from him playing. But we're just moving along and we're handling the hockey side of it. So far to date, his rehab has gone very well.

Keith's knowledge of the U.S. program will be a tremendous asset to us. We're extremely pleased to have him as part of the staff.

We feel bad for Aaron that he's unable to be part of the team. At the same time we're extremely fortunate to be able to replace Aaron with someone the caliber of Bret Hedican.

We have a lot of good, young players at USA Hockey and a lot of guys coming. We can take the positives out of this game and out of the whole tournament.

You come here with higher expectations and its disappointing, no doubt, but we have to move on now.

I told him that 3 12 years with one franchise is pretty good in today's world. Coaches tend to get fired as soon as teams lose a few games.

We have all of the best American scorers here. But it's hard to score here. Look at the low scores. The defense and goaltending is so good here.

I watched him play four times and he may not be as fast or as effective offensively, but he's still outstanding on defense and he's a great leader. That's why we wanted him to help us compete for a medal.

We're excited about where this franchise is headed. I'm very confident in the group of players we've put together. We're taking it one step at a time. But this franchise is poised to take the next step, and we will take the next step.

In signing Mike, we have added a solid, veteran goalie with more than 300 games of NHL experience to our club. This addition is a great complement to our goaltending corps and gives us the talent and experience in net that is necessary to be successful in this league.

We're really pleased to have Peter guiding our Olympic Team. Peter knows what it takes. He played on our 1988 Olympic team and came back as captain of the 1994 Olympic team. He's coached our last two world championship teams. He's passionate about the game and we're confident he'll do an outstanding job as our head coach.

We feel that with Bob's leadership, professionalism and winning track record, he is the coach that will guide this team to success for many years. We are pleased to have him leading our team and look forward to the future of the franchise with him behind the bench.

We feel that Keith will be ready. He's the type of player we need to compete and win the gold medal.

Ultimately it won't be systems that win or lose the hockey games, it will be how hard those players play within the system.

We had a lot of players playing very well. We said all along that we were going to base this team on not so much what was the history of players ... but how guys were actually playing.

It's very disappointing. Sometimes players in the emotion of the game don't realize everything that goes on behind the scenes that need to happen to make these tournaments happen. As a player, I don't expect them to know that.

We still need someone else who is capable of playing 20 to 25 games a year.

The orientation camp will be a terrific opportunity for our staff to come together with the candidates for our Olympic team to assess the potential makeup of our squad. It will not be a tryout camp as the evaluation process will continue through the first part of the NHL season, however it will be an important first step in the process.

We made a decision back in December. We all wish we could make this decision today on your whole team because maybe some other positions would change also. Ryan has come back from his injury and has performed very well, but we're very comfortable with the three guys we've named and we're going to roll with them.

The timing of the hit is bad when you have two minutes left in the game you're losing 6-0. And the hit, he was going to take the guy out, and Ranger slowed up or whatever, but Boulton hit him with his elbow, no doubt about it, and he'll pay the consequences.

Marian is arguably one of the top players in the world and is always a scoring threat. He consistently places among the league leaders in all offensive categories and holds several of Ottawa's team records. He also competes hard on every shift and sets the tone for his teammates. We believe he is the type of exciting player you will want to come out to Philips Arena and watch.

His fast start has been very important with Dany out. We needed guys to step forward, and Ilya certainly has done that. He's taken this team on his back. He wants to be the go-go guy and he's proven that he's capable of being that. He's got nine goals in seven games and it's been an unbelievable start.

If you're left off this team, it doesn't mean you're a bad hockey player. It just means we have other good choices.

We're going to do depth charts by team. Every team is going to have guys we're going to watch, some teams are going to have more guys.

I had the green light to go out and do this. This hasn't always been the case before. This ownership recognizes that we're close, and this is an opportunity to take us to the next level.

Just think we're going to have this player for the next five years.

We're pleased to have someone with Mike's knowledge and passion on board to assist in guiding our Olympic team.

It's to everybody's advantage if we could just wait until the playoffs are over or mostly over. That way you don't want to affect any player's ability with their team right now either positively or negatively. If the players could finish the year out and then we could pick the team that would be ideal.

His injury is healing, but the endurance part is not going so fast. He's been sore after every game this year.

It's very disappointing, because the people at USA Hockey do a tremendous job. There is a lot of pressure on people. The top people at USA Hockey are volunteers.

Some of his patterns come in legal and some come in illegal.

We want him in Atlanta, he wants to be in Atlanta. We're going to do everything we can to make it happen. I'd say we have a difference in monetary demands right now.