Ken Holland Good Quotations

There are some things that we know, ... We know our nucleus. They know the league. They know how to win. We've got a proud bunch of players. That's a good start. The new CBA has been put into place to level the playing field, but you know what? At the end of 82 games, somebody has to be in first overall.

One thing we can carry into the playoffs is the fact we've been so consistent. This team should feel good about what it accomplished.

Chris has been a No. 1 goaltender wherever he's been while Manny has never been given that opportunity. In 2001, when they were teammates, Manny made a great case to be the next No. 1 guy, but we ended up signing Dominik Hasek and later Curtis Joseph . This is a great opportunity for both Manny and Chris, and they've had a good rapport in the past, so I'm sure it will be a healthy competition.

For me, that was our main goal (this season) to win the Central. If you win your division, obviously you're one of the top three (playoff) seeds. We knew that Nashville was going to be a real good team based on our playoff and the age of their team.

If some of our older players can play close to the level they were at two years ago, we've got a chance to have a good team,

He has always had good game after good game while he has been there. But he's always been looked at as the No. 2 guy. He had never been given the opportunity to be the No. 1 guy.

We're obviously very happy that we got Pavel back. He's a talented young player that had a very good year for us two years ago, and we're hoping for more of the same. With the new rules, I think skilled players like Pavel are really going to be helped.

With Mathieu and Chris, I feel very good about our defense for this season. Mathieu had a great year for us in '03-04 and we tried to sign him last summer.

He's got good skill, and I think he gives our team depth, and maybe he'll surprise us. In the new world, you're going to have to have some players that are good bargains. At the worst, he'll be a good player for us in Grand Rapids and if we get into injury situations, he'll probably be a good guy to call up with his NHL experience.

We think we have some good young legs. I think it's going to be more of a younger team. We're trying to find some veteran leadership and hopefully we can find that at the conclusion of the first round.

We wanted to be one of the top three seeds. We knew Nashville was going to be a real good team, and after the first 45-50 games they were ahead of us, but our guys have really stuck to it.

Cory is a real good person and he'll be good for our team chemistry. It's an opportunity for Cory. I can't tell you whether he'll be the sixth, or seventh or eighth defenseman, I can't tell you. That'll be decided over the next 20 games.

They're both good young players with a lot of ability, but they're not finished products,

I've had some talks with Andreas and his agent. Andreas played very well for us. My feeling would be we would like to have him back next year. He's really solid, gives us size, he's a good penalty killer, and that was a tremendous blocked shot last night. He's been a pleasant surprise.