"We have a great team. We're very young. We have great prospects coming up. We need to keep developing how we're going to evolve leadership-wise, and (president of hockey operations) John Davidson and (general manager) Jarmo Kekalainen are focused on that. We need the older players to guide the young players, but we have a lot of talent. I'm very excited about the future. This is a great team. Next year is our year."

-John P. McConnell, majority owner of the Columbus Blue Jackets. More from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.