Joe Sakic
Joe Sakic
Joseph Steven Sakicis a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He played his entire 21-year National Hockey Leaguecareer with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise. Named captain of the team in 1992, Sakic is regarded as one of the most capable team leaders in league history and was able to motivate his team to play at a winning level. Sakic led the Avalanche to Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001, being named the most valuable player of the...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth7 July 1969
CountryCanada
Obviously, there's a number of teams, six to eight teams, that probably spent more than other teams to keep their players. So, yeah, you definitely lose that. But I think everybody is on the same playing field, and I think as the years go down, (there will be) issues and uncertainty for everybody. There's so much player movement.
You saw how a desperate team can play. They were all over us on the ice. That is a pretty good team over there. As a player you don't want the season to end. You want to keep playing.
Definitely four years ago, you had the names and you went with them. Now some of those guys got older and a lot of young guys are coming in, and it is tougher for sure. But I'd like to think that's a good thing for Canada, you can't really go wrong. There's going to be great players left off the team.
You need a lot of leaders, but a hockey team needs a voice, not only in the community, but more importantly between the coaching staff and the players. There are always ups and downs in a season; the captain is the guy players look to in those situations.
I always said to myself that if I thought I slipped and could not be the player that I want to be, then it was time for me to go.
The game is going back and forth a lot quicker. It's nice. The players love it, and I hope the fans do.
I think we're going to be a very competitive, very exciting team.
I think the Vancouver thing, you guys (in the media) are blowing out of proportion,
Penalty kills are huge. It comes down to special teams every game, and those guys have been great all year.
We expect all of the acquisitions that we made to help our club, ... I expect us to be right up there with everybody else competing for the Stanley Cup.
We ended up sitting back a bit and they started to come. But there were a lot of good things and a lot of things guys did better.
We've had injuries before and we're going to have them again. As long as you deal with it well, you'll go a long way.
Pierre's done a good job filling holes. We're going to have a talented team, an exciting team. We're looking forward to the challenge.
It always helps to get off to a good start.