I have played in the West for 14 years. I played against Dustin Byfuglien a lot. So it's not like I've been out East for my whole career and never played against the guy. That may have been blown out of proportion, I think.

I wanted to stay in the game. I wanted to learn more about the league, what goes on behind the scenes. As a player, you don't really think about that, nor do you really care: you're worried about your job.

You have to close quickly, you have to eliminate time and space and you have to try to deny them the puck. When you're playing with it, it forces them out of their rhythm and forces them to play defense, which they obviously don't want to do.

I wouldn't change anything that happened.That's the way the game was played when I was coming up. The game is different now. It's just a by-product of the era.

As you've progress further in the Playoffs, the ice usually gets a little softer. It's tough to keep it that cold. We could make it hard, but it would be about 4 degrees in the building. I'm sure the fans wouldn't appreciate that very much, wearing parkas in June.

In the '90s, when I started, it was still a rough-and-tumble, physical league. You take the hook and holding and a little bit of the physicality out of the game, and the speed ratcheted up two-fold. Now you have a split second to make a hit, or decide to pull up. When there's indecision, you're going to make a mistake.

It's not like you can start pounding drinks when you're wheeling your kids all over. They gave me something to shoot for, a goal to get back to.