Ray Ferraro

And he does it all the time.

But maybe people might not understand or know this about Nikita Kucherov.

He takes 10 days off.

That's it.

And then he's back on the ice.

And he brought Brandon Hagel with him.

And he's like, do you want to work?

Because Hagel said, I'd like to work on some stuff.

And Kucherov's like, yeah, you're coming out?

Then we go to work.

That's 10 days after the season.

Not that they skated every day, but they were right back into it for just what you're talking about, O. If you're going to play with Nikita Kucherov, you've got to be ready to work.

Yep.

Yeah, Austin Matthews can do the same thing.

His importance is outsized because he should be one of the game's best players.

And if he says, I'm getting back to work, who wants to come?

Well, guys will come.

If a third line left winger says, I'm going back to work, everybody says, well, you should so you can stay in the league.

Matthews can change.

Guys like Matthews can change the air around the team quicker than anybody else.