Nobody gives a crap about hockey down here - nobody. I coach kids' hockey down here and you can start to see the disinterest in the game here with the kids

The Christmas just before I turned four, my parents bought me a pair of little black skates and the Bay of Quinte was frozen and my two sisters took me out there and held my hands and taught me to skate. Now I don't know if this is true - although it sounds good! - but rumour has it by the end of the day they couldn't keep up with me.

Every professional athlete owes a debt of gratitude to the fans and management, and pays an installment every time he plays. He should never miss a payment.

When you are absolutely, positively sure you know all there is to know about anything, you're as far from the truth as you will ever be.

What makes it all worthwhile is we just play for the sheer enjoyment of entertaining people and... make our families and the team we played on and the people watching, proud of what we did.

We have to get families back in the game, get back where Saturday night, everything stops. A case of beer comes out and a bottle of rye and anyone who comes to the house, they better want to watch hockey.

My job is to suggest and ratify and use any expertise that I might have gained over the 23 years in professional hockey to make our game a better game.

Well, pioneers always suffer. I don't care who is the first to embark upon things. For instance, settlers that settled the West, Western Canada and the U.S... they went though hell doing it, but it had to be done

I feel, first of all, very privileged that these people think enough of me that they made me commissioner. And it's almost like, as Yogi Berra said, 'deja vu all over again.'

Orr is the greatest young hockey player that's come along since I've been here.

My former wife made me a millionaire. I used to have three million dollars.

I was a multi-millionaire from playing hockey. Then I got divorced, and now I'm a millionaire.

Somewhere in my wildest childhood I must have done something right. Being able to make a boyhood dream come true is one thing, but to have a kid come along and thrill his dad like Brett Hull has thrilled me over his career is too much for one guy to handle.

Always keep your composure. You can't score from the penalty box and to win, you have to score.

If I told you that the big contract had nothing to do with my signing, Id be lying. It made the future secure for my family.