“Hockey is my life. I love every minute of it.”

It doesn’t matter what I think. It doesn’t matter what other people think. You have to get on the ice and participate and play and the best team wins.

Lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. There’s nothing like it. It’s the greatest story. In my era, they used to say you couldn’t be a superstar without winning one. I remember thinking when I lifted it: “Now they can’t say that about me.”

I can’t remember the last time I went to a game and there was a fight. I think they fight more in baseball now than they do in hockey.

You’ll never catch me bragging about goals, but I’ll talk all you want about my assists.

My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He’d skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.

I miss all the shots I don’t take.

I think a lot of parents live their lives through the kids. Because they didn’t make it [achieve something], they want their kids to make it. It puts a lot of undue pressure on the kids.

We feel fortunate [with Canada hockey team]. We have got a lot of guys who love to play, but they also love to win even more. We are pretty happy. Although we are young, we like our group of players.

The greatest thing about playing obviously is winning, and you can’t replace that experience with anything.

As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can’t get every guy ready every night, you’re going to struggle.

Most players go where the puck is. I go where the puck will be.

That’s the hardest part of this whole process. The best part is picking the players and the worst part is telling basically five players they are not going to play tonight.

Nothing can replace the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I was so proud when I played in ’98 and I was so proud when we won in 2002.

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.

Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.

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

I grew up trying to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, not Team Canada. Didn’t even know it existed.

I was 19 years old, pumping gas and going nowhere.

I was kind of a high school dropout at that point because I had left school to play hockey, but no one drafted me.

Kabaddi is a matter of national pride. Why can’t cricket, hockey, football and kabaddi be given equal platforms and co-exist? I believe that can happen.

I’m probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don’t worry about it.

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.

Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.

I love everything about hockey.