NHL ENTRY DRAFT

June 22, 1996

Craig Patrick

No, I mean, it's -- it is definitely a coincidence that he said that at the time that he said it, and we're in the process of trying to make changes with our club. But, we had meetings right after the season ended with the whole staff, and we identified areas where we felt we needed to make some changes or improvements. And this is an example -- this is an -- this comes from out of those meetings that we went ahead and made this change.

We're a lot bigger. We feel that Kevin Hatcher gives us the same type of offense that Sersei Zubov gives us. And he also is a more physical presence in our line up, which we're looking to improve.

There's some things we'd like to achieve. We've got some goals ahead of us, hopefully we can achieve them, but we don't know. We'll work as diligently as we can on them. You never know, I didn't think things were going to happen today, period. So, I'm pleased that we're able to accomplish this little trade.

Well, yeah, Hatcher is an offensive guy with good size and has a good mobility, and we feel that we're trying to have a little more physical presence on our defense and, you know, six-four, 220 or 25, he's certainly someone that can fill that bill for us.

Well, we accept the physical presence and the physical play that he gives us. I've known him real well over the years, I've been involved with him in Canada Cups, and I can't really buy the theory that he's not a physical defenseman because I've seen him play physical.

What's that?

Well, Zubov did a great job for us and we'll really pleased with the job he did, but we feel we're improving an aspect of our defense that we wanted to improve.

Well, I don't think it's challenge, I think he will play that way. I've been involved with him in Canada Cups and he's played that way every Canada Cup. I think coming to Pittsburgh and having the sense there's a good chance of winning -- I think so. I mean, I don't know why he hasn't lived up to his potential in Dallas, but we certainly know him from the old Patrick Division. He was outstanding in that division, and I'm sure he'd still be. He turns 30 this summer, but they're different players that won't affect -- we moved Zubov out, we moved Hatcher in, so...