When you look at that picture of a dead deer in the snow and we are able to find that deer and then we do everything we can to make sure this animal survives, we all want to do that. Q. How is it to have a player like that? A. We’ve had some good players, Jason Spezza, Curtis Glencross, we’ve had some pretty good ones but it’s always exciting when you have somebody like that because you look at the guy. There is nothing wrong with his eye, nothing. It’s a lot of things in his brain. I think the biggest thing is when you get a player who is so good at handling this, then you feel it is up to the player how long they will last. When it comes to the other parts of the brain, we’re still trying to understand exactly what he’s going through, but that makes it even more special. That makes it much more special. Q. At what point did you first learn about Jake’s condition? A. It was after the Ottawa Senators game. The game ended and you go and you put away the things you need to get out of the room and then you go upstairs. You know, I don’t watch all my games. A lot of times you’ll give it up. You’ll tell the guys who need to know what is going on, “Hey I’m done,” and that was in the Ottawa game. I took off my headset and went upstairs and I talked to everybody. I got the feeling then that things were going to change. There is no way you can be having that feeling before that game that the end is coming for you. There is no way you can see that, no way. I mean, he was playing great and he was doing things that he is capable of doing. If you can see something like that coming then I don’t know how to react to it. I know that everybody has been saying we’ve known this was coming because he was so good for so long. Well, that might be true, but you don’t know. In some ways I don’t think the guys would even like to say that because of the way they are around him and how much they see him and how much they care about him. I think everybody saw him, you know, he’s always been a good teammate and, you know, it was difficult at times. It was difficult to watch him. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was so talented then I’m not sure any of us would want to see him get through this because you just felt so badly for him. Q. What was it like walking into the room to see him for the first time after that game? A. That game we had a couple guys in the room. It was the game before when he had that scare. My goodness. It was interesting. You look around and you know that’s a place you never want to be. Then you have to walk into that room, you know what I mean, and as a player you think you’re looking down the road. You can see that it is very possible that you are going to go out the same way as he did that day. It’s not a fun situation to be in. It was not fun to watch him on TV or in a game. I know for the first period of that game and then the intermission, I wasn’t going to go in. I was there on the bench when he scored. It was a great moment for me and everyone else. You have to understand where you are at when you say “aw” and everyone else says “Oh my gosh”. That’s part of life that you just go through. The guys who are around you you understand and you respect how he is handling it. We have come to have a great relationship with Jake over time and it’s just great to watch this guy play hockey. Q. Have you seen any change in how he handles himself since his first return? A. You know, you don’t ever have the opportunity to be the one who turns the door for him to get out of the room or get up and do the things he can do for him to feel like he is completely back. All you can do is your best to help the team so that he can stay here as long as he can. How do you help the team when you can’t be involved in the games? To me, that is the most difficult part of the situation because you don’t want to be the guy saying “Oh by the way, I am not coming in,” and because I’m not going to do it again. I just think it is an opportunity for me. You know, it’s time for him to go back to the guys. It is his team. Q. Would you have ever anticipated that Jake would not have played another game in the NHL? A. I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. I don’t know how it was going to turn out. That’s another thing that makes it different. We talked about that the other day. No, I don’t know how it was going to turn out. There were always things that were not going right for him and there are things that were going wrong that we can never control. It’s just how it goes. It’s just how it goes. I don’t think it was ever going to be that he was not going to play again. That’s the only reason that makes any sense to me. Q. How has it been watching him take part in the meetings and getting back into the room? A. He’s as tough as ever. I mean, you know, I love the guy for who he is and his game. The thing about him is when he’s on the ice, he’s a player. When he’s in the room, he’s a hockey player. That’s the kind of player he is. Q. The first meeting you have after being re-diagnosed, did you feel there was something that you could try to change? A. I don’t know. I didn’t expect it to be that kind of meeting. I think if someone would have said, “Here’s something we think we can do,” and he said, “No, I’m not doing it” it would have been another meeting. The thing was, there was a lot of things that were going on with his body and I just wanted to try to get the thing straightened out so he could go back to being a player, but this year was not a year that that was going to happen. This year was going to be about the rehab and trying to get all those things back together so he can do what he can do as a player and with the other parts of his game. That’s what you would like to get for the player. The tough thing is that if you are an injury-plagued player you never know what you are going to be able to do. We got the first-line centre going for our team now and we are going to go and try to find some other players who we think can come in and play that role and take that spot and it makes it that much harder. Q. You talked a little bit about how you saw Jake playing the first time you saw him. How different is he compared to that player? A. Oh my gosh. He’s so much different. When he first came here and the first time I saw him in a practice before his first game, it was like he was going to play forever. I was just so amazed at how good he was. You know, in that case, he had great skill and you can see that but you saw also that he was going to be a player for a long time because of his physical side and because he was hard to play against. You just kind of knew that he was going to be a great player. There is no doubt that when you talk about one of the top players in the league or one of the top talents that there has ever been, he’s one of those guys that just jumps off the page. You just say, “Oh wow, this guy is amazing.” We talk about the skills and the moves but the thing that makes it really special is the fact that he is so passionate. He’s such a great teammate, so hard to play against, so competitive, so excited about his work. That was always one of the most impressive things. The other stuff that comes with the package of talent is how much he cares about the game and how much he wants to win. He wanted to win so bad and wanted to be great. Q. Is there a moment that stands out? A. Yeah, the first time we beat Calgary after getting him back, it was such a great moment. We had scored one goal, his first goal