When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn't make the NHL. Now it's kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can't be a good coach because I was a great athlete.

Sometimes people ask, 'Are hockey fights real?' I say, 'If they weren't, I'd get in more of them.

I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual... and yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.

Thankfully, in my youth I had the best financial advisor a son could ask for: my dad Walter. When I got that first signing bonus in 1978, Dad took my cheque, announced, 'This is what we're going to do,' and bought an annuity with it.

I grew up such a fan. It was my life. Everything I did was hockey related and everything I have is because of hockey and the NHL.

My kids are no different than anyone else's - they tend to disagree with everything I say!

Competitive spirit is still at a premium. The more you win, the better you play, the more money you make, so they all have that in mind.