LIVE | Patrik Allvin, Jim Rutherford and Adam Foote Media Availability 09.17.25

LIVE | Patrik Allvin, Jim Rutherford and Adam Foote Media Availability 09.17.25

Good morning. Uh thanks for coming. Welcome to the start of the 2526 season. We’re really looking forward to it. We’re’ll say the obvious that uh we’re happy that the book’s been closed on last year. I feel very fortunate the way the coaching situation uh played itself out after talk decided he was going to move on and Patrick and I looking uh at different people to become the next head coach of the Canucks. Adam Foot did a terrific job in his interview. We already knew him. We knew what he was capable of doing. and uh and then from there to be able to get the assistant coaches that we got. I’m really excited about it. I’m really impressed with his coaching staff and I know Adam doesn’t have a lot of head coaching experience on an NHL bench, but I view him as taking the same pathway as Rod Bindore did. And I know Rod Rod Bindore very well. I’m the one that hired him after he retired as a player and I knew he was going to be a good head coach and I feel the same way about Adam. Adam is well prepared. He’s had a very good off season. I don’t think our players could be more prepared for training camp and the start of this season with all the things that Adam is coaching staff and that the players have bought into. And uh so we are excited that uh the guys have done what they need to do uh to have a a good start and now we’ll find out for real. That’s why we have camp. It’s why we play the games. So again, welcome and uh fire away. Adam, start with you sort of building off what Jim said. How have you felt about how things have gone for you in the offseason as you prepare for this point and your first season as the head coach of the Canucks? It was good. Busy offseason as you know uh the interviews of getting these this coaching staff together which I’m real happy with how that worked out. Um and then you know discussion with players getting our leadership group going. I felt like uh the guys committed to that and we’ve had some really good zooms together and um you know what I was impressed about the most probably with that was the first test we had with this leadership group was our skate test uh which happened a few days ago. We we allowed and asked the players what their opinion was if they wanted to do that. Most players are concerned about skate tests and camp and uh not not affecting them as far as injury, you know, moving forward so we can get a good camp in a condensed season where those practices are very important. So they asked to do the skate test earlier. Um obviously uh we had discussion about it and what I’m impressed about is they held each other accountable in the summer. They talked about it. They discussed the test. They agreed that this skate test was the right test for them. And what I was impressed about was they hit the mark. So, every one of them hit the mark. Um, couple players came in stronger, which means a few more pounds to carry. And a good test is to see their numbers go up in a skate test. So, to start that, I’m I was I was happy uh that the communication we had with the leadership group and the commitment they had knowing how important that was to get a good start, not only in camp, but for our season. So, um, you know, I felt like, uh, they did a good job coming together and working with each other to get through that. EJ, uh, Jim, every year almost feels like we ask you this question. You obviously said two years ago, if everything goes right, this is a playoff team. Is that your view this year? How do you see this team? Well, I I don’t I I like a lot of things that are in place now from the coaching staff. um to the players. Uh we talked at the end of the season about getting a little more depth at center and that I know that Patrick was on the phone almost on a daily basis and either players weren’t available that uh he wanted or the prices were skyhigh and it did not make sense to way overpay at this point in time for a center iceman. But with that being said, I think the centers we have are good as long as they stay healthy. Um, if you look at our team today compared to where we were where we were a year ago, a lot of things have improved from our goalending to our defense. Um, and then we’ll see how the how the forwards play out. But with that being said, I like I like the group of guys we have. And for the most part with the parody in the league, you have to have everything go right. You know, everybody is not like Edmonton where they have two guys that can can turn it up and uh and win a game for you. And there there’s some teams like that, but then there’s a lot of teams that are are very close. But I do believe if everything goes right and as we go along, make a an improvement here and there that uh that this team can be in the playoffs. That said, you have a pretty good guy on defense who can turn it up. I’m sorry. You have a pretty good guy on defense who can turn it up. We do. We do. And and and we have a a worldclass goalie and we uh we have a uh an impact superstar in Pey. So, we we also have those types of players. Um, but the two guys I pointed out are obviously the best players in the game. Adam, it sounds like the lines of communication with your players has been open as soon as you took the job as head coach, calling them uh most of them uh seems like on a weekly basis. After kind of last season where there was a bit of a cloud over the locker room, what was the first order of business for you to make sure that everybody was uh feeling like they were on the same page and and comfortable coming to this season. Yeah, I getting a leadership group together. I mean, the first thing for me that I wanted to take care of was getting PD Demco and Hughes together and it happened real it happened quick. Um, you know, I asked Pety, I think it was on a Saturday, to come down on a Wednesday and he stopped what he was doing and and uh made that commitment which I I found was really big. Um, you know, we met the Detroit area because Demco lives there. He had a young baby, new baby, and you know, huggies from there. It made sense to go out and get together and have a couple days together. We had some golf. Uh, Demer and I took them down. They still owe us $100. I guess we’ll have to get that off in this training camp. But um but it was a good group, a good time to get together to talk about what they wanted to discuss. Uh I call it working on our contract together of uh our leadership group, how we’re going to carry oursel as a group, as a team, and what we want to start throughout the summer, which was, you know, getting a leadership group together. We had uh three Zooms throughout the summer. um you know to talk about moving forward how we want to approach our season. Adam, building off of that, this will be your first camp as an NHL head coach. How do you what do you prioritize heading into this camp and how do you envision it uh playing out this camp? Um well, you want to use this camp for to get these guys back into it? I mean, they’re all in good shape and but you know, you can do everything you do in the summer, but you know, getting physical, getting into bodies, chipping the body, uh, revving the pace up to that NHL pace consistently, we’ll be doing, but running through with a condensed season with the Olympics, we’re going to have less practice time. So, we’re going to use these practices to still work on our systems. Um, running them through drills that they can still condition and get used to the physicality, but also put in play how we want to play in our structure. And Patrick, uh, Jim was talking about how you were looking for a center on the market this summer. Can you talk to us about what the what the market was like a little bit this summer and what you were hearing from other GMs around the league? So, sorry, what was the second question there? What were you hearing from other GMs around the league? Well, u I think you all were aware of uh there wasn’t much of a market here in terms of transactions this summer. Um the new CBA uh is taking place here and you see a a lot of players extending with their current team. Um that being said, I think our analytic staff or scouting staff have done a really good job identifying potential players that might come available. uh talking to Adam how we want to play and what type of uh players he’s looking for to fit into the system here. So um there’s been a lot a lot of conversations but uh unfortunately up to this point uh not much have uh transparent into um deals for Jim and Patrick uh with physical sort of in the books. Is everyone accounted for? And are there any injury designations or any players um who may not be on the ice that we’d expect to see for for injury reasons or or what have you uh on Thursday? Um as far as today walking in, there’s players are still uh doing medicals and all that. I uh the Jet Wu had a surgery here early August and and probably will be out month to month looking more towards uh uh November. Uh Tai Mueller got injured on August. He was supposed to play in the rookie tournament here. Hopefully he’s back. Uh he I I would imagine he start skating here this week and back in full uh practice next week. Um Ravinskus had uh hernia surgery earlier in the summer and been here rehabbing now for I think a month and he should be close to getting back here. But uh as far as I know otherwise uh everyone is is ready to go here. And then for Adam, you talked about downloading some systems and and taking advantage of this practice time, I’m sure, in meetings with your staff. You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how you want this team to play. I know it’s probably a little early and things will adjust on the fly as you go, but can you give fans a sense of sort of what Adam hockey looks like? Ideally, that would be for me is we want to be able to adapt against our opponents. Like I can’t sit here and say we’re going to be a rush team or a dump and chase team. We’re going to be a team that adapts to our opponents, make them feel uncomfortable. Um so there’s going to be nights where we’re going to have to defend maybe a little bit longer depending or be above some speed through the neutral zone, but we’re going to play consistent consistent hockey as far as as a unit of five. Our goalender unit of six, we’re going to play as a team and um I we’ll have the buy in with this group to be able to adapt. been lucky to play in some good teams, you know, with Canada and, you know, Colorado over the years, playing with some great players. And what I when those great players are ready to win, they they adapt and play the shift that’s needed at that time. Um whether you have to defend that shift, it’s been a long shift in your end. You got to get a quick change and not go on the offense all the time, things like that. for an example. Um, we’re going to be a team that, you know, if I’m defending against a heavier player, I got to make sure 50% of my body is ahead of him at all times, right? If I’m going against speed bur on the far blue line, I got to make be aware of him so he doesn’t beat us. And so, we’ll adapt as a group from who our opponent we play. We will have our systems in check. But the thing that I want to focus on most probably is numbers. We we we’re a great defending team, but I think we can get back quicker with numbers where we can strike say two verse three in our end. Um or two verse four, we can get better at striking faster almost. It almost feels you played great hockey teams and and you know, you run into your your game sevens, the big games, good teams make you feel like they’ve got an extra player on the ice and that’s just working away from the puck and I call it numbers. We’re going to try to do that in most zones. But coming into our zone, like I said, we’re a great defending team, but if we can strike when we have the numbers and have the confidence that if we’re going to strike three guys versus their two, the other two guys won’t get beat back to our end and they’ll have us covered, you know. So, we’re going to focus on that. But again, we’re going to adapt. You have to be an adaptive team. We’re going to play different styles of teams. We’re going to have heavy teams. We’re going to have fast teams. We’re going to have teams that are going to be a one- nothing game with their structure. So, we’re not going to get caught in um playing one way. It’s that’s not the way I I want to approach that. Further further to that question, Adam, um Adam foot the coach compared to Rick talk of the coach. We’re going to probably hear that at, you know, at some point throughout the season, the comparison, how does that identity for you take shape? Is it with the players who form your lineup? Is it the health of the lineup in terms of how your hockey team’s going to play and look, building off what you just said? Well, I mean, Rick instilled a lot of great things with this hockey club as far as, you know, the way we play. There’s there’s there’s things in our system that are going to stay in our system, right? Um whether Rick’s here or not, we probably move to the next phase, the next step. We we had to become a really good defending team. We had to become a team that changed, right? We had to become a team that doesn’t go rogue when it gets hard. Uh get individual. Like if you look, I guess you guys will will get you thinking of a PK. When a player loses a stick, whether it breaks or it drops it, usually you can test the team there. You have two, three guys running around trying to block shots, getting out of structure, you know, you’re not quite ready. You look at our penalty kill at the end, they were we lost a stick or a five on three. We stayed in structure. We didn’t panic. And you know, we’re going to be a team that with our process, which we talked about all summer, the guys have sacrifice, which starts in practice and dayto-day uh and their belief when the waves get a little little bigger, if we stick together and don’t go rogue, we’ll uh will not panic and we’ll stay in our structure and we’ll get the job done. So that’s an example of what we’ve been discussing and what I guess the identity would be adapting and and um just you know this team it this leadership group to empower them they’ll be able to hold each other accountable and keep each other in check as far as when it gets hard when the schedule gets hard when when the backto backs or or some injuries come above we still have that belief that we’ll stay and have it have enough to get it done and give ourselves a great opportunity. to win every night. Jim, you talked about the two superstars on this hockey team. There’s no questioning the effort of one. I mean, Quinn Hughes game in and game out is always there. This is Elias Person’s eighth season. We shouldn’t have to be questioning his fitness level, his commitment level, his details at practice. What has he shown you this summer as a management team? What has he shown you briefly on the ice as a head coach to say that this superstar is back and is committed in his eighth NHL season? Yeah, I I think it’s more of a question for the coach, but I I can just tell you what I heard. I didn’t go to visit him in Sweden, and uh I have seen him a few times since he’s back. And uh I know he put the work in. And uh I think we also know he didn’t a year ago. And uh success comes with preparation. And I believe all of our players and especially Pety has worked very hard this summer. So now the test is test starts tomorrow. It’s why we have camp, why we play the games. But I do believe he’s committed to be the player that we all expect him to be. And uh we’re all hoping that that starts right from game one. Yeah. I mean, Pety, like for me, coming over within four days, that commitment, having those conversations, open book, he really wants to continue to grow. Um obviously you see maturity happen throughout where his testing the first test he he he did very well and it’s a type of test that if he did the work in the summer compared to last year he might not he he had to do the work to get the number and it’s a it’s a great start and uh I’m looking forward to working with them and um I think his teammates too leadership group they’re all they’re all pulling for each other and helping each other get through this and and understand this process. And I I think it’s a good start for everyone to see that. Uh for Adam, um I guess the most prominent new face on the team this year is uh is Evander Kane. So I’m I’m wondering what your conversations with him were like over the summer and how you picture him fitting into your forward group this year. Yeah, we’ve had great conversation. Um I love his grit. He’s hard to play against. uh you know, he we needed that some of that sandpaper, you know, and he’s been in some great playoffs as you know. Um but we’ll uh we’ll enjoy the way he plays and um moving forward, his leadership like in in the hard games, right? So, we’re going to it’s going to be fun with him. One for Jim and a follow for Adam. Jim, you’ve been in this game a long time. It’s never been about appeasing one player, no matter how special he is, although Quinn is on a different plane. He’s a generational player. He’s a Norris Trophy winner. He’s going to the Olympics. Do you think you have to do something regardless of your cap restraints and the assets you don’t want to part with to improve your roster before the season starts or early in the season to give Quinn another indication that this team is going to be better positioned to win? Yeah, I mean it’s a very fair point and obviously Quinn’s future is so important to this franchise in this city. Everybody’s aware of it. Everybody will talk about it till we get dizzy. But at the end of the day, he doesn’t have to make a decision yet. And sometimes in life you think one thing one month and something else another month. So to your question, it’s always important to win and especially in this situation. We’re a little bit caught in between when you how far do you go to do that? which means how many draft picks do you want to trade? How many of the of the future do you want to trade? Because you could do that and he could make a decision to to go somewhere else non-related to how the team does or you just go all in and uh and see where it goes. I mean, it’s what I did when I managed in Pittsburgh. We knew we had a chance to win cups and that was the direction from ownership and that’s what we did. So, we’re always going to try to improve the team and have a better team. But it gets the first thing that Patrick hears when he calls somebody about a player is, “Okay, no problem. We want first round pick or a couple of first round picks or your top prospects and things like that. And that becomes the juggling act. As you do that, your team’s a lot better. Your team has success and he may for different reasons probably have reasons that we would all consider doing. It’s not just him. He may consider that he he would prefer to be somewhere different geographically for example you know I mean the biggest topic we all talk about wants to play with his brothers I mean I think everybody knows that by now right but doesn’t mean it has to happen two years from now or one year from now it could happen at the end of their careers so they say they played with each other there’s so many things I mean you can spin this thing a hundred different ways and there’s only one guy that’s going to make that decision and he’ll make it for whatever reason. But we do have a responsibility, Quinn Hughes or not, to have the put the best team on the ice we can and that’s what Patrick has to work on. He has to continue to work on that through the first half of the season to improve our team. Adam, you’ve come to know Quinn as well as anybody running the back end. And I remember a year ago in in before a preseason game in Abbottzford, I’d asked you about how you going to better prepare Quinn to be such a target out there and and he played through so many things last year. Is it fair to say there’s another level for for him to reach? It’s hard to imagine, but is there another competitive level for him to reach, whether it’s production wise or the way he drives the offense? Well, I I think the level is his growth every year. You you look at the great players, Crosby. He he works on his game every year. He works on off the ice, on the ice. I think with Quinn, his leadership, he’ll continue to grow uh as he goes through this process. And you know, he’s a great hockey player. We all see it. There’s going to be now adapt time to adapt. There’s going to be times where teams are going to be up on him uh targeting him as far as match like playing, I call it staying sticky on him so he doesn’t get the puck. There’ll be some nights where he might not have it as much because there’s they’re pressing him. So, we’ll play we’ll knock him down on a four on four away from him. And that’s the growth of a team and the leadership that I think you’ll see, you know, he’s a young guy. He’s uh going to continue to grow. And we’ve had a great conversation uh recently that he’s happy. He’s ready to play. He’s ready to go. And he he he called me and said he’s fired up and can’t wait to get back and get on the ice. Uh his head’s clear. So, very positive for me. and and he he asked me, he goes, “Yeah, I want you to keep teaching your staff, teaching me how to win in game seven.” And it’s huge to hear that come from him. Um that he knows there’s growth there. And we all keep getting better. I mean, you look at you’re if you’re lucky enough to play this year for 15 years, 20 years, you have that mindset. The great players have a mindset to be a sponge. And I think he’s maturing into that where he knows he can continue to grow with uh he’s got great coaching around with uh Dean. He’s been a lot of good boss and winning years. So Huggy’s in a good spot. Um real happy with uh our last conversation. Jim, uh over here early in the offseason, you talked about Quinn and potentially wanting to play with his brothers uh at some point. Quinn was asked about those comments specifically in the last week or so and um he said Jim’s a pretty smart guy and his comments made it sound like your comments might have been strategic. Is there a way for you to manage this situation or manage the message that maybe led to you saying that early and putting it on the table because it’s a savvy market. They probably would have talked about it here anyway. Fans would have. I don’t think I told anybody anything they didn’t already know. I mean, come on. This this wasn’t a surprise. So, I I really don’t I don’t know what your point is. Well, like I said, he made he made the point to make it seem like it it was intentional that you kind of put it on the table at that time. No. And Patrick, you were asked earlier about uh the second line center. Is that an evolving process for you? Are you still daytoday trying to make that happen or do you want to get through camp now and see what it looks like before you dive back into that? Well, again, I think it’s evolving process, but also uh the day-to-day conversation here with with Adam and and and our staff watching our players through the camp. Um Jim started off saying that we’re we’re very pleased with the with the group of players we have here. Uh excited about them and uh the direction we’re going with Adam here and how we’re going to play. Uh but absolutely it’s it’s in the years past we identify areas of our team that we need to continue to build out on and uh and in this case we’re uh identified that we want to you know uh build out in the center dep position. So definitely the conversation is going to be ongoing here and uh since I got hired here by Jim uh we’re always looking to improve our team. Uh that’s our job and uh it’s Adam’s jobs to to improve uh each individual on our team uh to get better and play the right way and and he’s done a really good job uh off season here building uh the leadership strength and and improving and empowering the guys to to take the next step. So um we’ll we’ll continue to talk and and see what’s available here as we move along. One for Jim and one for Adam. Jim, at the end of the year, we talked about the leadership group. Um, you come back basically with the same roster and tack other than Evander Kane. What gives you optimism that the leadership group can get stronger and become more efficient in handling this team? Well, it I’m already comfortable with it based on the early going as to what Adam did right from the start. when he got the job, he started calling all the players, uh talking to them about what uh what they wanted to do this coming season, identified who that group was, but I I don’t view things quite the same way as you asked your question about we come back with the same group, which you’re correct. Don’t I’m not questioning what you said, but I I look at it as what happened over the course of last season. If you go back to this point last year and look at the players we had and the changes that were made from the start of last season to today, actually made a lot of changes. some we didn’t want to make or one we didn’t want to make but you know we got to a point we had to um and so there there’s been a lot of changes and when you look at our team at the start of last year it just it just wasn’t playing the way it was capable of playing. So, I view it more as a as a 12-mon thing where there’s been a lot of changes, not view it as what happened from the last game of the season to today where we maybe added a couple of guys. But with that being said, we had a couple of guys with NHL experience, but we also have some good young players knocking on the door. And I really hope and I think it’d be great to see some of that young blood come into our team. And uh I know that uh in other experience that I’ve had when when you add two or three or four of those young guys, they come in and they’re excited and they they just change the, you know, the whole complex of the uh of the dressing room. You know, they’re just excited to be there every day and they’re learning every day. So, I’m hoping that a couple of those young guys can make it, but if not, we have enough veteran guys and and we’ll go with a team that I think has changed dramatically from a year ago. Adam, for you in terms of the group, how do you go about having the players hold each other accountable rather than say the coaching staff? And how do you go about having checks and balances with your team? Well, that’s what we discussed in our Zooms. they’ve got to hold each other accountable or I have to do it and that means going on the line. So that’s the conversation we had it we had a couple chuckles about it. Um, you know, obviously it’s my job and our coaching staff to teach these guys and and but it’s a partnership these guys. They I call it a contract, you know, um they’re part of making up that contract, right? Obviously, we have discussion about how we want to play if it works for our group. And when it’s not getting done, I I know I can look over at Marcus, Huggy, you know, Misy, whoever, one of those leaders, and they know what I’m why I’m looking at them. They either have that in their numbers when someone may go rogue or have a bad moment or needs to be realigned with where we’re going. And at times, we might have to change our practice the first 15 minutes, which they’re aware of. And I don’t think that’s going to happen often. I think they get it. There’s going to be steps where they have to be reminded probably. Um, but the accountability, they’re going to hold each other accountable and um, but we’re connected with the group that way. Um, I’m looking forward to see how it how how it plays out. Adam, one path to immediate improvement would seemingly be to be a better team here at Rogers Arena. you had 17 wins on home ice last year. I just wonder how much that’s been discussed internally and saying you have to be better doesn’t make it so. Obviously, you got to get out there and and get the job done. So, what can you guys do as a group to be better here, whether it’s for your own playoff push or to give the fans better bang for their buck? Well, I think it’s the process. It’s it’s what we start in the summer and the process. It doesn’t matter what building we’re on in for traveling to get in at 4 in the morning or we’re playing on home ice. Sometimes playing on home ice. I remember when I played, guys would get cute or try a fancy play or extend shifts or or maybe not. Just think it might be we got this tonight. And we we come we get out of our structure. Um you know, we we press when we shouldn’t press or extend shifts, things like that. It’s it’s an it’s a natural thing. and not just the Canucks throughout the league. Um, you know, it does happen. Uh, but staying in our process, believing it, you know, day in day out, we create these habits so that uh we’re on a we’re in a tough building that’s hard to play or we’re at home where we want to get going for our fans and try try someone tries to spin around. Well, I don’t want to see that. I don’t think that’s going to happen. But um we stay in our structure through this process that we should we should just play a game by game and and and things should just work our way. And Patrick, two-part goalie question for you. Last year on this day, Thatcher Demco was part of the group. It wasn’t really available and Lankin and wasn’t even in the mix yet. So, uh as we fast forward 12 months, uh how much better do you feel about your goalending? And when you look at the team as a whole, um, how does that sort of shape your vision of what might be possible given the two guys that you’ve got between the pipes right now? And then the second part is beneath the NHL level. Um, a guy like Yuri Patera, like where does he fit into this mix? He’s sort of the forgotten guy, but he’s still under contract. And, uh, the Envision three goalies in Abbottzford, or how is that going to play out below the NHL level? That’s a great great question. Um I I truly believe that uh with the addition of Medvidev here this summer or goalie pipeline is probably the strongest one in the National Hockey League. Um to be able to add a goalie like Madvidev and we all saw his game here in in um Seattle over the weekend. Uh I think he’s six days away from being drafted last year. So he will get his taste here at camp. Um I I think that the the Tai Young Topppilo Patera is a great great goalie. Um we’re very very pleased to have him here. He got injured last year and to your point they didn’t play many games. Um Costaminu coming in from Harvard. I I I think we’re really strong in that position. Going back to Lankin and Demco, in my opinion, they’re the two best goalies, the goalie tandem in the league, uh which gives us a chance to win every night and it gives the the com confident to the group. Um we have the luxury here of in the condensed season a lot of games and traveling and all that for for Adam to kind of managing his his his starter. Um, Adam brought up a good point that I think Lanin was the best goalie in shootouts over the last couple of years and Demco was number two. Um, very fortunate. I think that that just calms the whole team down. um we haven’t really we’re excited to see the camp and how it’s going to play out but but definitely that’s something we you know need to to watch uh once uh we get down to the numbers here and where guys would go but um seeing Tai Young over his first year were extremely excited about him too. So nothing is set in stone where where those guys going to be and that’s something we continue to talk with our with our goalie department here with Ian Clark being involved as well. So you get a few of those overtime games to shoot out. Well, if we do then we probably the odds are are in our favor to win. A question for Adam also about the goalenders. Uh do you have a a a breakdown in mind uh to manage the workload of both your guys particularly with Thatcher’s injury history? Yeah, we’re going to we’re going to break it down and have conversation with them and our and our goalie coaches and um we’ll manage it properly. Uh seeing how Denver feels and and with this with the condensed schedule as well. And uh for Jim, uh we saw you toured a number of local ice rinks in the spring. Uh, are we any closer to a practice facility? I never thought anybody would ask that question. [Laughter] The answer is yes, we are closer. We do have a few legitimate options now. Uh, we are in conversations with those options and if I say anything beyond that, you’re going to laugh at me. So, um, other than the fact that I we we should be able to get this done at this point. Two more questions. That was the part I thought you were going to laugh at me. Patrick, you you said here today that you’re happy with your centers as they are now, but that is still an area that you’d like to address. Maybe a year ago, you might have said the same thing about the defense. Last season from the start to the end of the season, the defense changed significantly, but maybe it was a little too late by the time the defense was changed. Is there a risk heading into this season of waiting too long to address that position of need? Is that something that you have to assess after the season starts or is that something that is in the back of your mind that you can’t wait too long? Well, it it’s based on what’s available, too. And uh leading up to those conversations, but I think uh even going back a couple years where we identify a guy like Philip Ronic um being somehow available to strengthen our or decor and were able to to execute a a deal there. Same thing last year when we were identifying or top four needed another left shot defenseman and part of the leadership and addressing it Marcus Patterson. I think we will continue to to watch and see here and and again since I get in and and uh the support from Jim we’re not waiting if anything comes up and and make our team better. Uh I think we have enough assets in our organization. We have draft capital if that’s needed and we’ll see here how Adam want to utilize his players and and how the the players will fit together uh during camp and early part of the preseason. So we’re definitely uh we’re definitely not waiting for the purpose of waiting. We were we’re open for business. and Adam. Uh, they’ve talked already about how you’ve been communicating with the leadership group. I I think Quinn even said something like, “Okay, let me turn my phone off for a couple weeks at least.” Uh, how has communication changed since you were a player between coach and player? And how do you have to adapt your communication style between different types of players who maybe don’t take information the same way? probably less swearing and not as loud. Um but there was communication. I mean I think when you’re I was lucky to have a really good D coach couple coaches I had Quinnville Jacqu Martan and Jacqu Kluche who was like I didn’t he everyone did it a little bit different but Cluch did it where I didn’t want to disappoint him like he had that knack where I wanted to play the right way for him and my team. Um, so the communication was there and I think as I got older I had more of a communication with say a head coach. I think it’s important uh you PK meetings even when we did it we wanted to make sure that our goalender we did what he wanted as far as what were his strengths things like that. So I think the communication was there. It’s a little bit different now I think with these players. It’s not just hockey. I think it’s youth today with how our world’s changed. They they want to communicate. They want to know and they have a right to know. Okay, I’ll do it, but why are we doing it? Like, and it’s a little bit different, but that’s not hockey. That’s our world. And it’s changed and evolved. And we have to evolve as as leaders, as uh someone in my position, right, with them and have that open door. And I think that’s important. I think it’s so important that these guys don’t go home um you know, not sure. and we have to have that communication open and it’s huge for us and the players I think have really enjoyed it and uh now we’ll get moving forward and and keep communicating through camp and I’m looking forward to our our new coaches working with them. Uh Patrick, question for you about the AHL team and just how those guys can develop and learn so much during a Calder Cup run like they just had. Um how different are your expectations this year maybe compared to last year for some of these guys to compete for jobs for the NHL team? Well, as as Jim mentioned earlier, we’re very excited uh with having that many young players that got a chance to win. Um I think development, part of development is winning and and creating the belief. I think a lot of players expressed how hard it was after um round two where the body was hurting and beat up and I remember Hendrick Sadine just told them that that was it’s it’s only round two and they were able to overcome it and and believe that this is this is the way you want to play. Um I expect them to come in here. I expect them come in a little bit with a pack mentality to be strong, have a swagger, and actually believe that they can grab a spot here. And again, we’re fortunate to have several players that don’t need waiverss and we can continue to work with them. I think Gabbotszford and the coaching staff down there have done a phenomenal job. Hendrickk and Daniel will continue to be with Abbottzford and working with them individually uh in Abbottzford and up here. So uh very very pleased with u with the organization and and the players down in Abbottzford. Um and Adam for you. Can you just talk us through your assistant coaches and some of the strengths that you like that they’re bringing to the group? Well, they’ve got that NHL experience, which I like, but they also all have kids at that adult age that have going through our times that have changed, which I really like as far as communication and being vulnerable with them, open book, but then still having the strength to have boundaries as well. Um so moving forward I think there’s the respect factor the players instantly have and uh you know they bring that calm demeanor and and you know this market it’s they all know what it is and they’re going to be a support system for them and and teach them and help they’re there to help them get better every day which makes the most important thing our team better and it’s about the crest and um it’s I like the group we put together. Thanks everyone. Appreciate you coming in. Thank you.

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