Rick Tockett

He played the right side and the left side when we needed him.

Very versatile.

Can really skate.

Long reach.

You know, and, you know, he could skate all day.

I mean, for a while there at the beginning of the year, we were playing him like 26, 27 minutes a night.

He was handling those minutes.

We backed off lately because our team's been pretty healthy other than Drysdale going down the other night.

But he's been one of those guys that just plays a 200-foot game that can skate all day.

It was one of the greatest processes I've ever been involved with.

You're on a

In meetings, live meetings or Zoom call meetings with, you know, the six gentlemen, you know, great minds, you know, obviously Coop and Pete DeBoer and that staff and Bruce Cassidy.

So what happens is, you know, you go through a list and then, you know, you bring up a name and, you know, and it's hard because how do you rip a star player?

Like, well, you want this guy over this guy.

You're trying to like fight, not so much fight for a guy and have your opinion.

Hey, I like this guy better than the other guy.

And they're both great players, so it's hard to really kind of rip a player.

But you also have the opinion that, you know, hey, I would have this guy because of this reason.

And Doug Armstrong was great.

I mean, he listened to everybody, and everybody had a voice.