Quotations

«Where might that have gone? He was a player who when we drafted him we believed was going to be part of the mix. In our opinion, he revealed a great deal about himself with his unwillingness to be challenged and by backing out of the deal.»

«I don't have any concerns about that. I absolutely believe (we're still a Cup-caliber team).»

«I think the biggest thing we're trying to find is consistency in our game. Through the first 41, it has been in spurts where we have put the entire game together. ... I don't know that it has all come together for an extended period of time.»

«We're still looking, ... We check the waivers every day. We're still looking to talk to teams to see if they have strength at that position, so nothing is guaranteed. These two guys have earned the opportunity.»

«We are very pleased to have Andy under contract as we believe he has an incredibly bright future with our organization, ... He came into training camp and through his play earned himself a contract now, as opposed to us going through another full year of evaluating his play in junior hockey. At the same time, it was the consensus of the coaching staff that we would not be furthering his development by keeping him in Tampa as the sixth defenseman right now. We want him to go back to Prince George and have a big year for his team, make the Canadian National Jr. Team, and help lead his team into the playoffs. We are confident that Andy is going to have a very long career with the Lightning, and getting him signed today and returning him to his junior team are the next steps on what has been an incredibly positive path thus far.»

«He's squeezing the graphite right out of his stick right now,»

«I'm certainly willing to let my reputation rise and fall on those two guys, ... We added two very good hockey players. We discovered some underutilized talents, and they can both be more than what they were allowed to be with their old franchises.»

«The atmosphere in this building is so good, ... Our guys play like they are 10 feet tall in here. There's no question our players get jacked up when this place is rocking.»

«We're still looking. We check the waivers every day. We're still looking to talk to teams to see if they have strength at that position, so nothing is guaranteed. These two guys have earned the opportunity.»

«I'm certainly willing to let my reputation rise and fall on those two guys. We added two very good hockey players. We discovered some underutilized talents, and they can both be more than what they were allowed to be with their old franchises.»