... warranted.

Yeah, I think Ryan's a really good coach for that group.

I think he's come up through the organization.

He knows a lot of guys.

He's, you know, and obviously I've worked with him, like, so, uh, he's...

I think he's a really good coach.

He's fundamental and he, with his, what he wants to get done, and he's very clear in what he wants to get done.

Mm

Yeah

... right before New Year's.

And so then you had to, you had to push right through all, everything right away because you had to get into the playoffs.

So, so you had to, you know, thread the needle with a lot of guys, but at the same time push guys, then you had to learn how to pull, all those things, right? So a few things I learned right away about Drew, and even though I'd coached against him, knew he was a great player and, and all those sorts of things, but, and a great competitor.

But he liked the confrontation part of it, and he liked the challenge part, and you had to...

So you had to go to that right away and then, you know, go through that with him, and then it, then that way he went right there, we had to go through it again ever.

So, you know, a lot of it at that point was, okay, this is how we...

Mm-hmm

But just this whole, the way it's evolved in, in, in, in your opinion

opinionYeah, I just think that on, on the one side of it, the, the kids coming in are s- the, especially that top end, those top 10 guys are, are s- you know, they're so much more prepared than probably we were at that age just because of what they have in terms of training, the mental, the physical part, the access to so many more things.

Uh, so that's, that's a huge, huge, huge plus to these kids coming in.

And, and then on the other side of it is just what you talked about.

I still believe there's gotta be a earn it deal involved in it.

And, you know, you gotta, you know, f- I know I would've been there for everything if, if I could've played in the NHL.

I didn't make it till I was 21, but I would've been there.

You look at your family, and you guys had six of seven boys go on to play in the NHL, and I guess that was one of the questions I wanted to get to the root of when I was there with you, is what it was about your guys' upbringing that translated to having such structure and discipline and, and eventually success, and if you think that's still sort of the, should be the path for a lot of kids.

How'd you get to sitting down and doing a book?

You know, quite honest, we've, my brothers and I did one years ago when we were all playing.

Um, actually when I was, I was in Chicago.

But then later on in San Jose, um, the mayor's daughter, we did a book together there.

She was doing it as a, as a university project.

And then la- about a year ago, uh, the publishers from on, from Toronto contacted me just about possibility of doing it, and then s- and then going through who could help you with it, things like that.

And, and, uh, it's not easy to do.

But what was, what was, was there one or two things you felt you had to do when you went into LA?

Whose idea was that? Did somebody bring it to your attention, or was this something that you really wanted to do, just kind of get your story out there and kind of write a, write a book?

Actually, it came out of, out of Toronto.

The publishing com- uh, company approached me about a year ago about it.

And, you know, my brothers and I have done books, you know, I think I've done one myself, and then the one you'd mentioned before about the Six Shooters and, and, you know, we've always done, you know, half hour, you know, shows or stories about, about the hockey part.

But they, um, I kind of turned myself off of it because they, most of them wanted to just go back to the tough thing, you know, being tough guys or hard asses and all that, and that was always sort of...

And I didn't want it to be anything like that.

I think our story was more about how we grew up and, and not just the hockey.

Like, what, what's the harder position, GM or head coach?

Um, so when you get to, so you get into the Stanley Cup Final, like, is there a danger of over-coaching because you know that the margins are so thin when you get to that point in the season?

I think the farther you go, you gotta be careful with it.

I think even you, and again, you can just look at this year again.

You, you don't play each other.

Carolina and Vegas, they don't, they don't, other than pre-scouting video, which you can cover so much, but it, you don't f- you don't know personalities or what happens with guys one-on-one or shift after shift.

So you can overcoach.

I think the big thing is stay foc- 'cause there's a reason you got there.

Um, when approached about this, was this an easy decision for you?

If you're Craig Berube, what do you do when your team is that inconsistent?

I think you're just, you're looking at the fundamental part of your system and you got to, you got to crack those little things like you watch and you know, if it's, whether it's a rush read, there's, there's simple reads.

I seen Nylander said a few days ago about just, just the simple things.

And he's dead on, like there's one-on-one reads, there's three-on-two reads, there's back check reads, there's D zone coverage reads, do all those little, do all those little things right.

And then, and then make that good, just try and be a second quicker in everything you're doing.

I think, you know, as much as they miss Tanny on the ice, a lot of what I'm saying there, that's what Chris Tanov does, right? Those things.

And that's the stability that you always go back to is guys like that.

But do you subscribe to the idea that they need to make these changes to become a more playoff style of hockey team? And do you think they've done that?

But is there anything that maybe you hold back for specific moments or maybe just for the final that you throw a different look at a team that maybe they haven't seen all season, something that they couldn't prepare for? I

think in the big picture of it, You can't overlook the fact that you're playing a team that you've only played twice all year.

That's what's huge.

It's the Western Conference champ versus the Eastern Conference champ.

And you might have caught them at a bad time during the season because of a trip, and they might have caught you at a bad time because of a trip.

So that's the biggest difference in the Stanley Cup final I found for sure was being in L.A. future.

We played Jersey and the Rangers while playing.

If you, if you're coaching these teams and you find yourself down, how important is it to stick to your game or when your game isn't working, is it very difficult to kind of stray away and try different things or newer things that maybe you aren't accustomed to that you've done over the course of the entire season just to try and be different?