Kelly McCrimmon

We are in hard on guys we like.

We've traded a lot of draft picks, which is contrary to how lots of Stanley Cup champions have been built.

We didn't have the luxury of a deep farm system when we started.

We had success right out of the gate.

And, you know, that kind of changed our approach.

So, you know, the first round picks we've used, we think we've put better value into our organization than we, you know, took away.

So, you know, that's the Eichel, that's Barbashev, Hannifin, Ertl.

There's a long list of guys that we've put first round picks in on deal that I think have become very good players for our team.

Yeah, and as I said, I heard you when I was coming on, and I say it tongue-in-cheek because I think there's almost the perception that we're reckless in our approach and we're anything but.

We're aggressive, but we're very strategic.

I think when you use the strategy that we're using, you need to make real good decisions.

Otherwise, your organization is going to go backwards, and you're going to be...

in a position where you're at a deficit with draft picks.

So, you know, I don't have the whole list in front of me of the draft picks we've traded away, but for the most part, you know, pretty much exclusively, we've been able to add good value back.

to the organization.

So I think in terms of our roster makeup, in terms of what we want our team to look like, I think we're really firm on what we think a championship caliber team needs to look like.

And we work to try to make that available for our coaches.

So that's

Again, no one expected the franchise to be the way that it was in year one.

Once that happened, it changed the calculus for us.