I would love to tell you today that it's not going to be a problem (getting emotional), but it really is. I don't know if there's a greater honor in sports than to have an organization retire your number and to have your family there. That's what it's all about. It's going to be a wonderful day.

It's not the way it's supposed to be here, it's never been close to this since I've been here. Hopefully, once the new guys take over we can get things going and get back to where it used to be.

There's things that I miss and there's adjustments to be made. But as far as playing, no regrets.

The way I look at . . . on the one hand, yeah, I would have loved to been able to play my last game (being aware of it). But on the other side, I'm so fortunate to play as long as I did play. So fortunate to play with the players and the teams that I did play with. And that's what I've got to look at. In the long run, I was very, very lucky.

It was the names of these four men that reminded me why playing for the Blues is as good as it gets in the National Hockey League.

It' better it happened this way. I'll get a chance to say thanks to the fans of St. Louis later, but as a player you don't want that to be a distraction to your team and your team goals that year. I don't know that I'd want that so I'm not disappointed the way my career ended.