It was different. There were a lot of whistles, and some of the guys who got penalties didn't know they got them.

I think there's a handful of guys that ended up being lucky in that way, ... Some guys who were free agents actually had to take a little bit of a hit but it just all depends on who's available and at what time. There was only a handful of defencemen in my situation so it made things a little easier for me, I guess.

It was really tough, not having the routine like we're so used to. Basically living a different life than we're used to.

I was in the same boat as everyone else. Just waiting and hoping that it was going to get done sooner than later,

Some of our defencemen here in the first couple of games have been just outstanding,

I had no problems with the old rules, but I think taking the red line away will hopefully add to scoring and make the game faster, ... As a defenseman, I look at scoring negatively, but it works both ways. I wonder about the expectations though. I played in Sweden, without a red line, and I don't think the game was faster. On the other hand, I wasn't playing with the best players in the world, as in the NHL. We'll adjust to the new icing rules and in a few years we won't remember what it was like before. There's always calls for new rules, but I just hope the game doesn't change too drastically.