Drinking it where you supposed to
make 15 trades by now? Yeah, I know.
I know keeping you guys excited.
Well Day 2.
I I feel good it was a big day for us.
You know we met last night after
we got back to the hotel and as a
staff and decompressed a little on
how how last night went and then
quickly turned our attention to today.
You know we had a plan,
and obviously the work was done.
As I mentioned yesterday for for
a long time going into the draft.
And then as you know,
as you get on later into the rounds,
you know you know me personally.
What I'm looking for is passion from our
our area Scouts attributes that you know,
maybe there's something that
really jumps off that they could,
you know, turn into an NHL player
and we think we found that we're
excited and we like Sweden.
Prioritizing rolling on day two?
Well, yeah, so Lance,
you know our plan all along going into
this draft was to was to draft the goalie.
What I wanted to just see how it
played out is where and when.
As as it played out this morning,
or you know this morning when
we got to pick 41,
we felt strongly that this was the time
to make it really feel that there's a.
There's a huge upside with our goalie there.
He's a big kid.
Really showing signs of being,
you know a high level goaltender
that's going to take time to develop,
but you know it's good to have
options and you want death and net,
and you know that's why I
said for all along it was.
It was in our plans to
draft the goalie this year.
No, no. I mean it's just you know it's it's.
It's a goaltending position you want
to make sure you you guys hear me
talk about pipeline all the time.
You wanna make sure you have pipeline.
You have flexibility and options
moving forward and you know when
you're drafting young goaltenders.
There's a. There's a long path, you know.
So for us, that's just normal
to part of our process.
The one guy we talked to and it's got a good
family background.
He's gonna be in the Memorial Cup
next year, but we just thought,
well, we, you know that's I'm
sure most people say this,
but we were pretty surprised that we
were able to get them where we we we did.
We see a really smart,
talented player poised and you know,
little bit undersized right now.
But you know, honestly,
like good pedigree and I'm really,
really high character just.
Just a really nice hockey player,
so I think you know he's another
kid that we wanna just let him
develop and take our time there.
But where we got him we're pretty excited
with the loving pics.
I mean two defensemen.
How much did your debt turn,
the NHL, and what you have there?
And those guys being long
longer term, maybe play new?
Or were you just following
your list? Mostly
I mean following our list,
you know, I think you have to
be careful that but you know,
I think I said this last night.
You know, you look at the
60 on our roster right now.
They're young so you do project.
These are these are defensemen that
we were that we really believe in,
and we want to build out moving
forward so you think about it, but.
You know it's just kind of how how it falls.
We want to we want to be disciplined.
We want to make the right decision
based on the work that's done,
but the the defense when we drafted,
you know, we felt strongly about
and that's why we took him.
All of the questions,
yeah you you might say a better
than me, but I know you're talking
about having you tell us about.
He's a ton of shots so just
yeah we see a high talent,
big upside type of player.
You know there's there's
a lot to be excited about with him in
terms of potential, you know similar
to some of the stuff we talked about
last year. We know that there's a there's
a path that takes a while sometimes,
but for us and I talked to you
guys about this before, is value
if there's a if there was a player
that we felt you know in a
spot that was high value,
we were going to make the pick,
and that's what we did.
For for your financial.
Yeah, I think you know, as we as
we've gone through the the off season,
you know we have a we have a plan.
We're going to stick to our plan.
Obviously. You know you can.
You can get emotional or you can.
You can make quick decisions and
I don't think that's that's how
we want to run our business.
I think we want to be disciplined
with what we do.
I think we want to be intentional
and how we do things.
We want to have players that want
to be here for the right reasons.
That's why drafting so important.
You draft hockey players that you believe in,
and then you develop those players.
You retain those players,
and that's how you build it
out moving forward.
Now we'll you know as we get into
the next phase of this offseason,
we'll look at all options which you
know will continue to do right through.
But you know,
feel good about where we're
at. The teams are getting a little jittery.
I don't wanna speak for other teams,
but I I think it's it's natural, right?
Just to, you know, have that feeling,
but I I really believe in being
disciplined and being patient and
making sure that you calmly follow
your plan and you know that's the
work we've been doing that all along.
Having these conversations
internally and options,
and prioritizing so for me,
it's just to make sure you stick.
Just stick to what you're focused
on and not get caught up in emotion
or making a decision that maybe
you would regret down the road.
Early.
Well, I mean, you know, I think
I've, I believe in the the process we've
gone through and will continue to go through.
I believe in the the people around me
every day that I talk to and in our on
our staff and how we're doing things.
Craig Anderson I I said it
yesterday and I'll say it again.
It was a critical piece for for me
to get him back with our group not
just for how he performs on the ice,
but I we what he does every day
in the locker room.
You know, we feel comfortable with
where he's at from a health standpoint,
but you know, we're going to.
We're going to continue to look
at every single scenario,
evaluate it and do what we think is right.
How do you feel about what's left out there?
Well, we I. I mean, I think I look
at it like you have to have a plan
and you have to have a priority list.
So you go through all those things.
I've had a lot of discussions with
teams about different options.
You know things that we think about
and then you kind of go through that
list and check it off and maybe some
conversations pick up a little bit more,
some go away so you know well.
We've had that.
We'll continue to have that,
and we'll look at we.
We know there's options available.
Also, if we decide to go
that route potentially so.
But
what we won't do is is panic.
We will. We will do what we
believe is right for this organization
from the short and long term,
and we'll be patient and calm and we'll,
we'll do it. We'll do the right thing.
Information on Johnson's advisors.
Yeah, so met with them yesterday and
he's gonna come to development camp
and then we agreed to kind of circle
up right after development camp and
just just to have the next discussion.
Does that mean he makes a step and you know,
in turns pro potentially,
or goes back to school,
but we we decided to spend a little
time during development camp together
and then we'll see from there.
But the plan is for Eric to
be at camp as well.
He has indicated you know,
things could always change,
but he's indicated all along since
we first opened discussions that he
he's preferences to go back to school.
And that's what he said.
So I don't think anything
anything's gonna change there,
but we're looking forward
to seeing him next week.
Alright, thank you.