Geo

When you're talking to him, he's 18.

Yeah.

Okay, but he's been through a lot in his life.

He lost his mom, lost his billet mom.

You would know more about that than I would in terms of how important they are in your life and your growth as a young man.

I still have a hard time believing that he... And he's a young 18 right now.

He just turned 18.

Yeah, some... You know, you got to look...

you know, into the parenting of a kid that grows up like that, that is that polished, that mature, that well-spoken, that aware of himself coming into the professional league.

I mean, that's, in my opinion, that's parenting.

And, you know, God rest his mom, but, and, you know, obviously he's given a lot of credit, but what a,

What a selection for the Islanders, and what a player to build the team around.

I know you and Wayne Gretzky, when you were that age, you guys were advanced in your skills, and you guys... I wasn't.

Wayne was.

I hardly played junior hockey, so I wasn't very...

unfinished product by the time I turned pro, so I had to kind of hone my skills at the professional level, which is never easy.

It's never easy, but watching this kid, I even asked my son-in-law, I said, like, how did you know?

He played 17 games before he was drafted by the Islanders, and there was a little bit of a discussion, should the Islanders take this kid Hagans, who's from Long Island, and a great player in his own right, who's ended up playing at Boston College, or do you take this 17-year-old defenseman that only played 17 games?

How can you

tell when a guy is that good, that young?