Brendan Shanahan Q and A

 

NHL

 

With 24 goals, Brendan is tied for 7th among goal scorers, four behind league leaders Alexander Ovechkin, Martin St. Louis and Teemu Selanne. Brendan has scored 622 career goals, first among active players, and 12th on the all-time scoring list. This season is Brendan's 18th consecutive with 20 goals, a feat surpassed only by Gordie Howe, who had 22 20-goal seasons from 1949 through 1971. With a record of 22-18-4 for a total of 48 points, the Rangers are second in the Atlantic Division play on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square; they had host the Boston Bruins in the season debut of the NHL on NBC.

Q. I saw this week you were talking about establishing a winning culture in New York. How far off do you think you are from that, or how long term of a project is that?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, you know, I think -- I don't know how long a project it is, but obviously it takes time to build that sort of thing. I don't think it happens overnight because, you know, you have to have consecutive years of success and playoff success to have that, and you've got to have your success in your farm team system. You know, I think it's great that we had a couple of players on Canada's National Junior Team. I think any time you have players within your organization who win championships and learn how to play in big games, it's good for you.

Q. 622 career goals, that's a whole bushel, I was wondering if you could recall for me --

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: The 427th?

Q. No, No. 1.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Yeah, I do. You always remember your first goal. It was in Madison Square Garden but I was playing for the Devils and I think crossed over the blue line and Claude Loiselle dumped the puck to me and I had a low shot that beat John Vanbiesbrouck stick to the side. I've seen it a few times this year. Obviously when you get your 600th, they show your first as well. So it's helped with the memory of it. But you know, any NHL player will probably pretty vividly describe his first goal.

Q. Did you ever figure that -- I mean, just in Dave Keon, Jr's preamble there, he mentioned Gordie Howe, 22 years with 20 plus goals. Is there any thought in your head to take aim at Gordie at this point?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, that's kind of a thing that has snuck up on me. I remember like a few years ago, people saying like, oh, you had so many consecutive years of 20 goals and now all of a sudden to be behind only Gordie Howe in that category. I don't think it meant a lot to me before, but to now say -- I think one of the hardest things to do in this game is score goals on a consistent basis. I don't know whether I'll be taking a shot at Gordie's record of 22 seasons, but it's something that it's, you know, sometimes you hear -- you play long enough, you're going to hit some milestones, and not all of them mean an awful lot to you. But that's one now that means something to me, the consistency.

Q. How do you explain it?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, you know, I think a lot of it has to do with the players that I've been able to play with, play on good teams and play, you know, have coaches who play me with offensive players and setup men and things like that. Obviously the kind of goals I score, not an end-to-end guy, so I have to rely on someone. I work hard to go to the net or get open. I need someone putting the puck on the net so I can get rebounds or finding me an open space. Again, it's just about preparation, summer after summer, and also a little bit of luck when it comes to injuries.

Q. Since you've been in the marketing efforts and thoughts about the new NHL and curious how you feel it's been going now in season two, and also your thoughts on the new sweaters to come, is that a good gamble for the League to take a new look, a new image?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, you know, I don't know, I know we had some practice sweaters on a couple of weeks ago. Mine didn't really fit me that well that day. We had talked about getting a bigger one.You know, I think it's one of those things we'll have to have them on and play before we really know how they are. I guess I'll wait to judge them. I'm an old school equipment guy. I don't like to change my equipment too much. So you're probably talking to the wrong guy as far as changing the look of a hockey player, but I'll trust the experts, the marketing experts on that. As far as the game is going, I think the game is still going really well. You know, I think the honeymoon is kind of over somewhat. Every once in awhile I see on TSN or ESPN Classic an old game, and I'm seeing a game from sometimes only five, ten years ago and I see the clutching and the grabbing that was going on, where just the game is just so much better right now.

Q. Coming over after your time in St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit, did you think you had it in you to be considered as one of the many MVP candidates for the Hart Trophy this year?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Probably not. You know, it's not something that I think of ever really -- the individual trophies have not ever been something that's been my focus. I wouldn't say it's my focus now, nor should it really be anybody else's on me. But I had hoped that this -- I had kind of done a bit of homework in the summer in trying to choose a new team and a new home. I thought that this was a good fit. Just glad that it has been, and the players have made me feel really welcome and the fans have really, you know, been fantastic with me. So all of the things you kind of hope for when you take a risk and, you know, change addresses. It's been a great start. It's exciting to be in a playoff race. In Detroit, we really weren't in too many playoff races. It was kind of a foregone conclusion. So I find it exciting that every game feels like a do-or-die situation. Our wins and our losses have got such highs and lows. It's a fun way to go to work every day, to have those highs and lows.

Q. Last night there was a little bit of a controversy with the refs that they wouldn't talk to you following the puck out of play and Monday night there was a little bit of a controversy in San Jose, are those isolated or do you think it's the seed of a problem that could potentially harm the game?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, I think you got a wrong report there because they did talk to me after the call. I just wasn't happy with their judgment on the call. I think they realized by the reaction of the fans after watching the play on the score clock that they were probably wrong. I think they were kind of split. I think the referees were split on what they thought. I think one or two of them thought it should be a penalty, and at least two of them thought it shouldn't. So the moment they made their decision, the play went up on the score clock and I think they kind of felt that they might have made a mistake. So they spoke to me. I just can't say that I was really happy with their judgment on the call. I think the referees have done a better job communicating. It's been much better than in the past. Sometimes they are not always dealing with sane, rational people in us; our emotions are so high. But it's been a lot better than in previous years. They are human guys. They are going to make mistakes and sometimes you know, just an honest admission that they messed up might not make you feel better at the time but it's acceptable because we all make mistakes.

Q. Do you think that possibly in situations where there is -- where they are undecided, that it would be a good thing for them to maybe have Toronto look at the play in question?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Yeah, I thought about that last night. Right now, the play in question is not a reviewable play. And so even if Toronto or anybody saw it on the video, that's a play that's not reviewable. It has to be called on the ice. So I was thinking about that last night, it might be something that we could bring up with the Competition Committee maybe in the future for a few specific plays that are not reviewable that a team has like one review so to speak that they are allowed to use. And then, you know, if they use it in the wrong, maybe that team gets a two-minute penalty. I think it's something to bring up and to look at. In the end, I think the referees, before the puck was dropped, when the play went up and by the reaction of the fans, they had already realized they had made a mistake. I'm sure if they could have gone back and done it they would have changed their mind and I understood that. So maybe we can talk about that next off-season about having, you know, a team having the ability, that they know a mistake has been made, their coaches in the coaches room have video evidence of that; that they can quickly call the challenge and you wouldn't have teams abusing it because they would have a two-minute mentality. They would essentially be correcting a play that is not correctable by the rules.

Q. Can you comment on playing with Yzerman and his retirement, and also maybe a couple highlights from your career, and was playing for the St. Louis Blues one of the highlights and experiences that you got playing with the Blues, how did that affect your career?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, obviously playing with Steve over the years, he was a real inspirational player for me. And to watch him kind of, you know, at the end of his career just never, never take shortcuts; never, you know, compromise his beliefs in what a good, responsible hockey player does, was inspirational to watch. St. Louis, I had great years with St. Louis and I really loved it there and I didn't want to leave at the time. It was a place where really playing with a guy like Brett Hull, I got the opportunity to -- you know, I had developed a certain style of game in New Jersey and a very physical game and around the net, and you know, basically scored goals one way and that was if the crease and around the net. And then going and watching Brett, he kind of showed me other ways to score goals to kind of add to my game and how to get open and how to get a quick release away.

Q. I know fans, Blues fans, were sad to see you go; did you actually approach them and say you would like to say, and who were you traded for?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: I was traded for this guy named Chris Pronger who turned out to be a pretty good player. No, you get traded, you get traded. It happens to everybody, or it happens to most guys but they ended up getting a pretty good player out of it in the end. You know, through Hartford, I was able to then go to a place like Detroit, play nine seasons there. You know, things work out for a reason. I don't have any regrets.

Q. So you mentioned how the Rangers, you thought it would be a good fit, so far it has been a good fit, you're on a one-year deal, has there been any talks or anything at all about you staying or extending that contract?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: No. You know, my focus has really been on this season and this season only. Like I had mentioned before, we're in a playoff fight. You know, we have been all season. To me that's been -- that's where my focus is night in and night out. I think that's day-to-day, that's taken up all my focus is what can I do to make this team a better team and what can we do in the next game to get a win. Again, I will say that I certainly have been very impressed with this organization and have enjoyed every minute of being a Ranger.

Q. And so you wouldn't mind staying there?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Yeah, of course.

Q. It seems that there's a number of power forwards in the league is dwindling year after year, I was wondering who you would consider to be your equal or someone, if you were to pass the torch as the premiere power forward in the game, who would you pass the torch to and who do you like hearing comparisons with?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Oh, I don't know. I don't know. It does get thrown around a lot now. When I hear power forward, I still think of Cam Neely and Rick Tocchet. Those are the two guys that I probably had growing up, or my formative years in the NHL, coming in at 18 and playing over here in the East and playing against Tocchet many nights in the Patrick division and Neely, my first season we played them in the seven-game semifinal in the playoffs; those are the guys that made a big impression on me. Not too many guys like that any more in the game that can score and fight. There are lots of guys, kind of the new power forward now is the guy that drives the net, takes the body, can score goals with skill and can score goals with grit. But there are not too many guys any more that like to drop their gloves like those two guys did and kind of possess that mean streak. There are some guys that can do it, obviously, but you know, I've always admired the way a guy like Jarome Iginla plays the game. He doesn't ask people to stick up for him; he sticks up for himself. He scores goals in a variety of ways and he scores big goals. And I also think he sticks up for his teammates. He leads by example when it comes to that sort of thing. Probably a guy on the team, similar to things I've been told at different points in my career, the team has probably said, we don't want you to fight, but some other guys do it. As much as Jarome has lots of pressure to stay on the ice and to produce on the ice, I see something in him when he's involved in a fight that I think he's having fun.

Q. He's having fun with the fight?

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Yeah. (Laughing).

Q. Do you remember fighting Jarome years ago? You kind of mentioned to me, saying something that it was -- he said he was honored to fight you, and you said honored to fight him; that you saw him as a future Brendan Shanahan.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Really, you know, what I remember most about him is that he came back from that game and had a very good game, and some guys, that will throw them off their game and other guys, that makes them play better. Jarome is one of those guys. I've gotten to know him through Team Canada on a few occasions, and he's a respectful -- and have gotten to know him better on the Competition Committee, a very intelligent guy. A lot of the rules that we have now, you know, are very clever ideas and some times when the committee has kind of gotten itself in a little bit of a pickle; Jarome's come up with an idea that's solved a lot of problems. So he's also a very smart guy. People don't know the specifics of what is said in those meetings, but I just want to say that he's been a fantastic contributor to the new game.

Q. You spoke briefly about the Hart Trophy, I was wondering --

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Don't you think that I should speak briefly with the Hart Trophy? (Laughing).

Q. I was wondering what your thoughts are about how much consideration a goaltender should get, as opposed to a skater for that award, and your thoughts about the guys across the river.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Well, I mean, I don't know, I don't like to pay too many compliments to goalies; I view them as the enemy. But how many times -- you tell me, Rich, how many times have they won the Hart?

Q. Six. Six goalies have won it.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: I think the Hart is -- you know, I think how it's defined is most valuable to your team; correct?

Q. Yes.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN: Not necessarily most valuable in the league. So it makes sense to me that a goalie can win it because he's such an important player. He's the one player that never goes off the ice. We get little breaks between shifts to physically and mentally sort of not be, you know, at 100%, whereas a goalie, you know, especially mentally, has to concentrate every second of a 60-minute game. So I think it makes perfect sense that they are eligible for it. Guys like Marty Brodeur, just what he's done over the number of years, to be able to do it, there are lots of great players that come in and have great seasons, but the real special ones do it over a long period of time, and he's been able to do that.

Photo: Brendan Shanahan © Richard Wolowicz (HV)