Sept. 30, 2009

Opening statement...
We are excited to get going. There will be life after Jeff Lerg. I think Drew Palmisano is probably the goalie people are going to refer to now and I think he is an outstanding goalie. We brought him in a year early to work with Jeff Lerg and I think he really benefited from that. Goal scoring was a major problem last year and I think it still will be a problem but our talent is better. It is difficult to say who will lead us offensively but the young guys will benefit from the ice time that they had last year.

On the talent of the freshman class...
I like our freshman class, there are nine of them and I expect them all to play. They are an older, bigger, stronger group. [Nick] Sucharski returning as a fifth-year senior is a big, big plus for us as far maturity, ability to win face-offs and he played on the National Championship team. There's tremendous benefits. I've looked at the poll, I've looked at our cluster and I'm not too concerned about where we're picked. Hockey is that one sport where you can improve a tremendous amount in one year. I expect the league race to be extremely tight. I agree with the rankings, I think there's an awful lot of teams above us and below us that are very capable of doing very, very well - with us included in that group.

On the challenges posed by the teams in Michigan State's cluster...
Obviously our games with Michigan are always highlights and they'll be great games once again. [Notre Dame Head Coach] Jeff Jackson has proven again what a great coach he is and that program is certainly sky-high right now and very difficult to play. We do have the one game in Fort Wayne with Notre Dame that I think is going to be exciting. We have one game with Michigan at Joe Louis which is always a thrill. I'm really, really happy that things are looking up at Bowling Green, it's way too good a program to be in jeopardy. I like playing there, I always have, and they're exciting games in that building. As with the other clusters in the league, I also think this is a very good one.

On the prominence of shoulder injuries last season...
I know it's weird. I try to watch contact in practice. We had [injuries] happen in practice, we had them happen in games, we had them from contact from people falling. I talked to our strength people and I've talked to our trainer, I've looked at our equipment. I just have to believe it was just a lot of bad luck. I can't imagine it was anything other than that, but it was frustrating.

On the outlook of the power play this season...
I don't know for sure. I think the kid Torey Krug that we brought in from Indianapolis, who played in Belle Tire in Detroit, really has a gift for running a power play. With the freshman [Derek] Grant, Sucharski's return, [Corey] Tropp's return, and [Jeff] Petry bouncing back and having a good year, and the addition of Krug I expect it to be much better.

On Jeff Petry's upcoming season...
He looks great. He was just named one of our co-captains. I think he's in a much better frame of mind, I think he's surrounded by better players. It was a tough year I think for him and everybody last year and I expect him to bounce back and be a very good player.

On Petry's skill set and how the team responds to his leadership...
Well his skill is tremendous. He's very dangerous, he skates very well, he's obviously an offensive defenseman. We had to play him probably more than you should. He's older, stronger, he's maturing and I think three freshmen look like they're going to play in our top five and so I think the talent around him is better also.

On closing in on career victory number 750...
You do something for your whole life and you do it for a lot of years and you're blessed by doing something that you love to do. The question I'm starting to get is...how many more and do you like what you're doing? We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't love it, and it's not numbers that move us forward - it's just the honor and the privilege and the thrill of doing what we love to do.

On Dean Chelios being added to a roster that already has two children of prominent Detroit sports figures...
They're excellent. We talked about Petry, and Trevor Nill, you can tell he's improved already, he's quicker and moving around the ice very well and his role will expand. Dean Chelios is a really good player, I'm thrilled. I think his skating will get stronger as he goes. I think one thing about kids who grow up in hockey environments is that they know the game and they think the game well, and you can see that with Dean. Already he's going to be an everyday player for us who gets powerplay time. I'm very excited about him.