Player's perspective: What did your coaches ask you to focus on this offseason? Is there anything you're hoping to do better than you did last season? How will you be altering your on-ice play for this season and what did you do in the offseason to prepare you for that?? Are you going to be trying to fit into a new role this season?


Last season I joined the coaching staff at New Orleans as a player-coach. I wasn't contributing as much as I wanted to on the ice, and I wanted to help the team as much as I could off the ice. I've still been working, and there's been a pretty steep learning curve in the coaching aspect, but I'm lucky enough to have a very deep support staff around me and a very supportive group of players who are willing to work with me on and off the ice. I spent most of the offseason reviewing our team's training programs. Last season a lot of our players were lacking physically, myself included, so during the quarantined offseason I was sure to check in with the other players daily and help them with their individual training plans so we could be in the best shape possible come puck drop opening night. For my own game I've worked on shoring up defensively and I'm going to be trying to play more conservatively overall, but especially on offense. I knew I was taking too many shots last year, and from places I shouldn't have been. Hopefully I've worked that out of my system.