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.

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 management] you're getting an opportunity to meet and speak with the GMs, assistant GMs, owners, governors - all the way up the line. It's a great opportunity to understand the league a little better and the challenges it faces.

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.

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.

I think playing the way I played, and knowing the game the way I know it, I think I'm going to have a better idea as to what the mindset of each player was.

I was sitting at a friend's place in Michigan on vacation, having a beer on the patio. I was a little hefty. I said to myself: "Okay, I'm going to finish this weekend off strong, then after that I'm going to shut her down. I'm going to start taking better care of myself."