#that is my wibe his feral grin on the ice is my favourite

[ratatatastic]

"And then looking at Niko Mikkola—obviously a guy that played a big role his first season here. Things are different for him now this year—losing Brandon Montour—you got him with Kulikov right now, they played quite a bit last year together. What are your expectations for him that carry possibly playing them together?" "I don't know if we'll end on that pairing 'cuz—it's gonna be a function of what we end up on Opening Night if all players are healthy and 5-6 isn't—is the 5-6 pair better off being split? So we're gonna have to do a little work on that. I expect Niko to continue to get better. I think he's still got room to grow not that we were by any means disappointed. He, right from the start of training camp last year, fit in, and then [be]came part of the identity of the team. The way he plays is the way we want our team to play. So I think he just found like the perfect home for him. We value his game. He' stronger, fitter, faster this year than he was last year, and you can see it on the ice. Hardworking man, hardworking man everyday. Plays hard in the games, plays practising hard to the point that I don't even watch him in practise other than when you're forced to 'cuz he kills a play or closes the gap or... In hard camps he's still got a smile on his face, he still enjoys it—really big part of our culture. I don't have a ceiling on him yet. He gets up the ice, he's just, you know, one of those gamers. I know that's too general of a word but his identity, his base state of play is exactly what we're trying to get all these younger players to [do.] The skillset doesn't matter, and certainly some players will look different by that skillset—they're not all that big, they're not all that rangy but the effort can be applied by all players, the way he plays. So he's a bit of a standard setter in intensity.

Training Camp 24 | 9.26.24 (x)

any time we get the audio of paul talking and waxing poetic about mikksy an angel truly gains their wings, puppies are happy and yipping, light is returned to this world and we all vomit rainbows

"in hard camps he's still got a smile on his face, he still enjoys it." YEAH HE DOES PAUL ROLL THE TAPES (x)(x)