He has done a great job as captain of our team this year. I think they are all hungry to prove they can get the job done.

Al did such a great job as captain last year. I need to focus and concentrate on helping this team win hockey games. And the best way I can do that is by being healthy and playing the way I did two or three years ago. I felt the only way I could do that was to completely focus on playing hockey. Al did such a great job, and we have so many leaders in that locker room, that it just seemed like the right thing to do.

I feel much better about our team than I did two days ago. The recognition of how hard this is going to be is a positive thing for our team. It takes guys like Brenden Morrow and [Jason] Arnott and [Jere] Lehtinen to drag everybody into it.

You watch that team, and he's a dynamic player. He's great one-on-one. The thing that jumps out is how hard he works to score goals.

We've got a veteran ballclub, and guys who are still very hungry. There's a lot of guys on this team who haven't won. This is an opportunity for us, and we don't want to let it go. There's been no panic, and guys are still banding together.

He's had a very good year. The number he cares most about is wins. The other numbers are inconsequential. That's a credit to him; 38 wins is a lot of wins.