Manny Malhotra

I talk about a number of coaches that really helped me out throughout my career.

The one that kind of put it all together for me was Todd McClellan in San Jose.

Incredibly intelligent hockey mind.

But more importantly was his ability to relay the message and communicate.

And I found playing for him, there was no gray area.

I knew what was expected of me.

I knew what the system was.

I knew how he wanted us to play.

And I really took away from that, that with clarity, it allows you to play free.

So for me, I feel that communication is so important for the guys.

They want to know the information.

They want it crystal clear.

They don't want to have any ambiguity with what is expected of them.

So for me, just making sure I can communicate my message, communicate on the daily, just even those little touch points of, Hey, what'd you do for dinner last night?

make the ability to communicate information down the line that much easier.

Yeah, and that's part of my learning process, becoming a coach.

And what drew me to want to be a coach was Ken Hitchcock was explaining something.

And one day he said, I've been giving you the what, but I now need to give you the why.

And this is why we're doing it.

So today's generation, they want to know why.