On Pavel Mintyukov:
He's been on our radar all season. What I love about the player is he's very creative offensively from the defenseman position. He's got really good compete and hockey sense. From that aspect, we were excited to get him.
On Mintyukov's skillset:
In the games I watched him live, he was very skilled in traffic and can think his way out of traffic. Those are special skills and very hard to find, especially in defensemen. We see him as being part of our core group going forward.
On drafting a Russian player:
It doesn't matter the nationality. We're looking for the skill, the hockey sense and the compete. He checks all those boxes. We're looking to get better and put together a championship team. He fits all that criteria.
On Nathan Gaucher:
He's a very good skater. Powerful player. Very aggressive player in how he plays, doesn't mind stirring it up and he's big. I've mentioned before we're looking to get bigger. He checked all those boxes. We're extremely happy with the players we got.
On the first round:
To me, it was normal stuff. We explored a lot of different things. That's part of the whole process of the draft. There are many scenarios that unfold, especially with the cap staying flat. Teams are looking to make different moves to create cap space. There are lot of different scenarios that you have to work through at the draft and into free agency.
On having the draft in-person again:
It's really great for the kids. Mason McTavish last year never got his moment on stage so that was very important for us. Mason was very happy to be here with his family. It's a cool thing. I was drafted in this city in 1982 and I had my dad with me. It's a fun thing to go through for the kids drafted and for the parents. It's a proud moment with all the sacrifices they've made.
On whether they target specific positions:
Not really. At the end of the day, we're looking for the best player there. It's a cliche but it's true. These guys put a lot of hours into putting these lists together, ranking every player and putting them in groups. You just keep moving to the next name on the list.
On what Mintyukov and Gaucher bring to the team:
They're going to be highly competitive and bring good size, skill and hockey sense. We're excited to have them.
