32 Quotes by Doug Risebrough

Unrestricted free agency is not a savior. I've never seen an unrestricted free agent carry a team. But it is a tool.

We did it a year in advance, and we didn't get any credit for it.

We have a number of players who are third-, fourth- or fifth-year pros. It's their time. We're not sure what they're going to do, but we need to find out.

One role we've been trying to find is somebody at center who's hard working and kind of pesky. Erik's kind of done that at the U and done that as a pro. Maybe there's an opportunity to see what he can do in NHL.

I wouldn't have believed it. We are on a roll. But if you had told me that our team would be competing against all the teams that we played to date, yes, I would've believed that. Or that we would be playing hard -- yes. Or that they'd be close games -- yes. I think the difference is that all of those things have happened and some of those close games have gone in our favor.

Because of the split, I'm not sure if we've ever been able to find out what Manny can do. This year's been Manny's year. He's had exceptional years. This year will rival anybody else in the league.

If I was going to do it, then I'd probably do something with the veterans more than the rookies because they've been playing well and maybe they deserve a chance.

He's a guy that you know has played at a higher level before and maybe just hasn't found the right fit.

Going to the tournament and talking to him about the decisions he made and asking him how he put it together gave me a sense of his abilities. I talked to him (about the Wild management job) before this year's tournament and he said he couldn't talk about it until after the tournament.