Dave Hakstol Time Quotations

Jordan elevated his game once again toward the second half of the year, as he's done before. He's the leader for us in the locker room and he carries that onto the ice with him. I believe our guys play a little extra hard with him in the nets. At this time of year I wouldn't trade him for anybody.

I won't say anything about what happened to him (Stafford). Obviously he wasn't available for the rest of the game. We've got to adapt and overcome injuries this time of the year. They're part of the game. Whether or not he's available for Saturday night, we just adapt to that and overcome it.

I think it's important to be playing well at this time of year. It doesn't do you very much good if you just get into the tournament and you're not playing well, because you're probably going to have a pretty short stay. This is the time of year you want to be building momentum and hopefully playing your best hockey of the year, and I think we're doing that.

We've got some guys back there who can bring some offensive ability and make some offensive plays. That's part of being a good offensive team. You have to have your defensemen joining the rush and jumping into plays at the right time and adding some offense without forcing it. That's something young guys grow into.

We've had tight battles with virtually every time we've played them. It was a playoff-type hockey game tonight.

There's no halfway at this time of year. We've been pretty cautious over the past week. Drew has been skating for over a week now. With a situation like that, we're not going to rush anybody back. Certainly, that was the case with Drew.

It was obvious what (Stafford) added. Not only the offense he brings, he also brings a certain level of calmness. He's been a leader in that way. The more veteran leadership this time of year is a big positive. I thought he brought some real stability.