Al MacInnis Quotations

Resisting conformity and developing some small eccentricities are among the steps to independence and self-confidence.

The first thing I noticed about him was that he was born the same year I was drafted. ... That's a pretty scary thought.

Nobody has worked harder to be a head coach than Mike Kitchen.

I am truly honored that the Blues have elected to retire my number, and I'm flattered to join the list of players who have been recognized before me. I will always consider myself part of the Blues family and will look back on my playing days here with fond memories of my teammates, my coaches, the staff and, last but not least, the fans.

It' better it happened this way. I'll get a chance to say thanks to the fans of St. Louis later, but as a player you don't want that to be a distraction to your team and your team goals that year. I don't know that I'd want that so I'm not disappointed the way my career ended.

I wish I could skate one more shift, take one more slap shot from the blue line, for the best fans of hockey. But knowing my No. 2 will forever have a home here is more than I could ask.

I would love to tell you today that it's not going to be a problem (getting emotional), but it really is. I don't know if there's a greater honor in sports than to have an organization retire your number and to have your family there. That's what it's all about. It's going to be a wonderful day.

The one thing what makes St. Louis what it is are the fans and the people. Not only do you hear it from hockey players, but you hear it from baseball players - it's a great place to play sports. With very sincere fans ... all they ask for is an honest effort. To give them what you've got. And you can be visible in St. Louis and people are very appreciative. All they do is wish you the best.

The way I look at . . . on the one hand, yeah, I would have loved to been able to play my last game (being aware of it). But on the other side, I'm so fortunate to play as long as I did play. So fortunate to play with the players and the teams that I did play with. And that's what I've got to look at. In the long run, I was very, very lucky.

It was the names of these four men that reminded me why playing for the Blues is as good as it gets in the National Hockey League.

It's not the way it's supposed to be here, it's never been close to this since I've been here. Hopefully, once the new guys take over we can get things going and get back to where it used to be.

It's good to see them back in the seats. This season hurts the Blues fans and there's a lot of them out there that are staying away. We want them to come back and I think that's going to happen here real soon.

There's things that I miss and there's adjustments to be made. But as far as playing, no regrets.

I just felt that after not playing competitively for two years that I could not reach that level of play again. It was strictly time.