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."

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.

[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.

I don't like having noise swirling around me. Loud noises bother me, so I try to stick to the outside of a room.

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 just didn't feel very good. One day I woke up and I was like: "All right. I'm going to start eating right. I'm going to start working out." I figured it might help me feel a little bit better - even if I was still sick, it might help me move forward with my struggles. I just kind of turned a corner.

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.