BARRY TROTZ

When you sign up for Team Canada, we look for the best way to do things, plain and simple.

I love what I do in Washington.

For my size, I think I played bigger than my size. I tried to play bigger, which is probably why I got as injured as I did.

To me, the make-up of a modern defenseman, the No. 1 thing is the processing skills.

You go the whole distance as a player, the last thing you probably want is the coach to say, 'Okay, you've gone this far, I'm going to take you out.'

A lot of teams get a lot of offense off the rush.

There are a couple things that I could be doing, maybe owning a coffee shop or work in construction, building houses back in Nashville or British Columbia. I've also thought about being a property owner which would give me income and allow me to fix and maintain those properties to keep me busy.

I became a citizen after 9/11.

Just like all young players, there is a difference between being involved and just participating.

Every day, I do hockey-related stuff all morning.

What happens when you have to use your top guys so much, they're going to hit a wall at some point, and they'll go four or five games where they just don't have the juice to play at the level that you need, and therefore your team suffers a little bit.

Winning is not easy. There's an investment that has to be made night in and night out.

Part of the greatness of being on the Island is it's a smaller community; all of the players live within a couple miles of each other. It really promotes that family sort of atmosphere without being engulfed by the big city.

I think I'm very adaptable.

Obviously my former place in Washington, you got stars like Alex Ovechkin. Those are great challenges because you're looking at a player who does something very unique and trying to grow him in areas.

Anytime you go to the All-Star Game, you recognize that it's special. It's an experience that you don't want to pass up.

Four has been my lucky number. I have four kids; it has been a really good number for me.

I have a list of stuff I need to do during the day. I try to do a couple of hours of professional stuff, be it hockey stuff I haven't gotten to the last little while, husband stuff, everything to repairing stuff around the house that I neglected around the winter.

There's too much parity in the NHL.

If you know anything about Lou Lamoriello, his background and what he does, he will do what it takes to win.

You can't take your foot off the pedal; you've got to get pucks to the next level.

As I have evolved as a coach, I was a guy who was all about the game and a person who focused on the wins and losses.

My father, Orest, worked as a mechanic for the CNR and he got transferred to Dauphin from Winnipeg.

Hopefully when I make it to 80, I can go to a hockey game and watch the Predators and Capitals play with my grandkids. That's probably my legacy on the hockey side.

Having a wheel mentality is paramount. It gives you time and space.