On defenseman Noah Juulsen, who had suffered a series of injury setbacks before making a return just prior to the pandemic:
"He's someone I'm very passionate about. He's shown so much determination. I know his name has gotten a bit lost, but it hasn't been easy for him. Suffering from migraines is hard, but he's finally been able to move on. He played a game with us before the pause, and he was excellent. Among all the times he's tried to make a comeback, that was his best game in two years. He was the Noah Juulsen I know. I was at the World Junior Championship with him, and I finally got to see the same defenseman again. All my conversations with him have been positives, because this ordeal is behind him. He's healthy."
On the current depth on the Rocket and in the Canadiens organization:
"If you look at what we have right now, our depth is good. We have some guys who have spent some time with the Rocket, who feel like they belong to the team, and who understand what we want to do. I now have to find some place for young players like Jesse Ylonen, Joel Teasdale, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, and Josh Brook, because we also have guys like Laurent Dauphin, Yannick Veilleux, Lukas Vejdemo, Joseph Blandisi, and Jake Lucchini who are more experienced and who also want ice time. It's a good challenge, and that's my job. But what excites me the most is that I really like the potential of my young players. I have to find the best way of working with them and giving them some mileage. That's where having guys like Kevin Lynch, Xavier Ouellet, and Gustav Olofsson, good veterans and good people who understand how things work, is priceless."
On where he thinks Ryan Poehling is at in his progression:
When you come from the NCAA level or Junior - or any level that's below pro hockey - as a young man, the adjustment you will need to make to your game is sometimes obvious, and sometimes it's subtle. In the case of Ryan, there were subtle things in his game that he needs to adjust. Without getting into too many specifics, those subtleties in Junior hockey or the NCAA don't get exposed that much. But when you play with the best players in the world, then those subtleties all of a sudden become a little more magnified. I always call it the Bambi effect a little bit, where the young Bambi that's running away a little bit might get caught up. In the case of Ryan, it's no different for him than every other young player. He had such a high-performing first game in the NHL. But I think it was a really good learning experience; that adversity was really good for him, because he was positive and he's had a good attitude.
On Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who played 13 games for the Rocket in 2019-20, and his performance in the 2020 NHL playoffs:
"Like everybody else, I was really impressed. I really liked his mindset. I spoke with him a few days before it started in Montreal, and I think his mindset was right from the beginning - I think the whole organization saw that. He gained experience last year, and he was ready. That's what's fun to see. I loved his engagement physically. I thought his dimension became really obvious as a 200-foot centerman in the playoffs, on the big stage. Like everybody else, I was a fan of watching the games and I was very excited about KK, the way he really adjusted to the adversity of playoff hockey. It was fun to watch."
