from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

I get the sense there’s real good communication between you and Marc Bergevin and where this all fits together long term. And I bring that up because a lot of people wondered after Max Pacioretty was traded where that left other veterans on the team.

Yeah, for sure. It’s always a big shake-up when you trade a captain. I think our guys have responded well. We have a few more veteran guys in our lineup that have helped. Obviously, with Webs (Shea Weber) and company as a solid leadership group, it definitely helps.

This league is so close. A year ago at this time had we talked about New Jersey and Colorado making the playoffs after being last in their respective conferences, you would have been surprised probably. But isn’t that the league today?

Yeah, for sure. You never really know how the season is going to go until it seems about a quarter of the way through. It’s a surprising league now with the way teams flip-flop in and out of the playoffs. It definitely gives our team optimism.

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