Dave Nonis Quotations

Matt Cooke may be the worst fighter in the history of the National Hockey League.

The twins are talented, quality people who have shown continuous improvement in all aspects of their game since joining the Canucks.

If people knew what was available and what it costs, I don't think there's anyone out there that would pull the trigger on what has been offered to this point. There have been very few deals for a reason. There are players you can get for less, but they're not going to help you.

I think we need some new energy, new juice. It does not go any deeper than that.

It had to start behind the bench. It's the start of doing some things to the team to make it better.

Koltsov, he's back in Russia. His mother is very ill and he wanted to stay back and be with her. He maintains that he that he wants to come back to North America and if he does we look forward to having him. You know, he's a dynamic player. He can create a scoring chance both for you and against you. He does have some great ability, and he was coming along when he went back (to Russia).

Picking out one or two players isn't helpful to anybody. With that said, your best players have to be your best players throughout the course of the year if you want to have some success.

Marc was good. He was very thankful for the time he has had here. He would have liked to have had another year to get back at it. But he's been around this game a long time and handled it very well. Probably better than I did.

Marc is a great coach, a great friend. But we felt our team needed a kick-start. We didn't play with the fire we've known in the past. At some point, you need a new direction.

I think Marc Crawford is one of the best coaches in the NHL. It doesn't mean we're not going to evaluate all the elements of our organization, including the coaching staff.

We need some new energy, some new juice. We felt our team needs a kick-start, that we haven't played with the fire we had been known for in the past. A change behind the bench was the first place to start.

We need some new energy, some new juice.

Whoever the head coach is will obviously have some say in who his assistants are. I would be hopeful that they will be strongly considered and we will have something to say about that as well. They have done a lot of good work here. At this point they are still with us.

We believe the league is very serious about the obstruction crackdown and the new rules put in place. That will make speed and skill very important. We felt Richard was one of the guys that fit into that category. He can change the game with his speed.

We have not played with the fire that we have been known to have had. I felt that a change behind the bench was the first place to start.

You'd like to have players with more experience, but we do have some vets on the back end and it's important that they step up and earn their keep.

There is a chance he could be back for the playoffs depending on how quickly he rehabs and what kind of healer he is. It's a possibility for sure. I know he'll work as hard as he possibly can to get back.

We need to get back to where Marc Crawford had taken us. Head-coaching experience is a plus. We'll make the appropriate search.

We wanted to bring in someone to help Alex and that s what we accomplished.

We felt that at this time it's something that we couldn't rely on to hold up through the entire season given that he has to go up and down on it all the time.

We are very excited to be adding both Harold and Eric to our scouting staff. We feel very strongly that adding Harold to Ron Delorme's amateur scouting staff and Eric to our pro scouting staff will strengthen the department. It is important to our management team that both Harold and Eric have been with our franchise before and are passionate about the Canucks organization.

We are very excited to add Anson to our hockey team and feel he will be a great fit among our forwards. In eight NHL seasons, Anson has shown that he can score and add an offensive touch every where he has played. We feel his experience will be a great addition to our hockey club.

Brent is a quality person and we appreciate everything he did for us in his years with the Canucks. New York should provide an excellent opportunity for Brent and his family. We wish him luck in the future.

Brent has proven that he can play and play well at the NHL level. He adds a great deal of depth to our goaltending position.

There won't be a coaching change this year. We're giving everyone a chance to win and (Crawford) is part of that. If the players are looking for a way out, that's not it.

The style of game they play is fairly open and they have some offensive weapons.

After further consultation with one of the leading physicians with regard to abdominal sports injuries it was decided that surgery was the best course of action. The best long term decision for Eddie and our hockey club was to have the surgery immediately.

Alex will continue to get the bulk of the work. We are happy with his play and he's proven that he can compete at this level.

This isn't a one-or-the-other situation. We are going to make decisions that make our team better.

It's easy to point the finger at one guy and I don't think that's fair. At the end of the day, we've got a pretty good hockey team and it's up to the players to perform. They're the ones who go on the ice, not Marc.

That is another issue that I think we need to get off the table right now. Ownership has been very supportive of what we need to do . . .There is no selling to do, there is no people we have to clear things with. There's nothing. At the end of the day the responsibility of how well we do or poorly we do lies right here.

The best long term decision for Eddie and our hockey club was to have the surgery immediately.

It's definitely not true. The decision was mine, it was unpopular, but I had to do it. I don't have to ask for permission, not that I wouldn't consult them so that the owners know what's going on.

It wasn't because the message wasn't correct. It was in some cases that certain players weren't listening to that message.

I want to make it clear this does not absolve the players for their part in this season. In no way does this mean there will be no further changes. No way. The fact is there is a lot of blame to be spread around and a lot of it falls on the shoulders of people that were in that locker room.

It's not about Marc being a bad coach. If I'm in another market today and I'm looking for a head coach, his phone is already ringing. That's what I think of him, but it doesn't mean we didn't need to make a change. We did.

I'm not going to talk about individual people. I want to make sure that when we hire somebody, that it's someone that we're comfortable with as a person.

The goal was to shore up our D and see if we could improve in net. On the back end, we're going to get some bodies back but the timing is uncertain. We felt we needed some character and strength on the back end.