“This morning it really started to heat up. Obviously with MacKenzie and Olli Maatta both having, we were on [Olli’s] no-trade and [MacKenzie] had a full [no-trade], so y’know, I got to talk to Olli Maatta, good talk. And then a couple minutes later he said ‘I’m in.’ So he was good. MacKenzie it took a little bit longer, he had to go talk to his wife, Maggie. It’s a huge, life-changing thing and you’re asking people to do it in a few hours. It’s not easy. They called and talked to MacKenzie and kind of explained why they liked him, what they’re doing there in Utah and where they’re trying to get to.”

“We want to be in a position where we’re in the Stanley Cup playoffs and we’re not doing this, but here we are. And so, the conversation is, he understood where it was and obviously his thing was he wants to go to a team that has a chance to make the playoffs this year and moving forward. With him being 32, that was a big thing for him. I don’t think it was an easy decision for him, but I think he understands.”

“Olli Maatta, I mean, he just played in the Olympics, he’s been in the league, he’s won a Stanley Cup. What he’s gonna bring to the locker room, even just talking to him for the short time… He’s a competitive guy, he wants to win. I see him as a solid, good puck-mover. PK guy, I don’t see him on the power play, but do see him playing good minutes for us, lots of minutes, and then all of a sudden he’s going to be able to help these other, younger guys along. And that’s what we need also, we need those guys.”

“Castagna, he’s a guy that’s really hard-working, excellent in the face-offs, compete, finishes checks and can score at the college level right now. He kinda checks a lot of boxes that you’re looking for, that you need to try to win with players. That’s a big thing. He does fit that profile of what we want. And he’s a little bit older, probably a little bit more ready to come out. This is his third year at school, but he’s still only 20 years old. He wears an A at Cornell and he’s a highly-competitive guy. And another centre. And excellent in the face-off circle, like I said.”

“You can use those picks to maybe move up in the draft. You can use those picks to make trades for players. It gives you a lot of different opportunities. It doesn’t mean you’re going to make every pick right where they are. i do think the Ranger pick, where it is, with Ottawa being out, where the Rangers are right now, kinda where our pick is, it really gives us some great draft capital. We have to weaponize that and do the best we can.”

“We’ve got to do things with a purpose, and that we feel is going to make us better in the next few years, and that’s the key. We’re going to be taking, fielding calls and seeing where teams are at. If anything makes sense, then we’re going to really look hard at it. We have to. That’s our job.”