NHL ENTRY DRAFT

June 27, 1998

Alex Tanguay

ALEX TANGUAY: Yeah, it was surprising. I was ranked 14. I didn't expect to go before 16th, 17th or 18th, and it was a great thrill. As a kid you always dream about being draft in the NHL; was a big Quebec Nordique fan as a kid growing up in Quebec city, so I was seeing the players there, Sakic, Forsberg all of those guys. It is great now.

ALEX TANGUAY: I have met the scouts Michelle Goulet and Dave Draper five times and they looked interested from the beginning and things went well and this is, as I said, this is the best day of my live. I couldn't ask for anything better. My dad was always supporting me all through my hockey career. He followed me everywhere and, you know, this is a great day and I think I owe a lot to my parents and to my brothers supporting me and make sacrifices all the time for me being here today. But today, it is a great day. I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. But tomorrow we are back to work and hopefully I will make the team as soon as possible.

ALEX TANGUAY: Well, Forsberg was sort of my idol when he came to play in Quebec. He was -- he is great. He plays both sides of the ice real well. He was a rookie when he was in town and didn't take long before everybody noticed him and I was a big fan of Forsberg.

ALEX TANGUAY: I think it is mostly my visions of the ice. I see the ice real well and make good passes. I have good defensive ability and I can play also both sides of the ice.

ALEX TANGUAY: I think I am a little bit more of a playmaker, but I have learned -- I have worked -- my coach was Danny ^ Grant, former 50-goal scorer in the NHL and he has shown me a lot about scoring this year. Hopefully I can do a little bit scoring a little bit of scoring as well.

ALEX TANGUAY: Well, my skating there was some question in my skating because when I play in junior I like to slow down the play and make -- play slowly and everything. That may be the reason why my skating is rated a little lower. I am working on it actually with speed skating guy this summer to try to improve it as much as I can and I am doing as much work as I can on my skating. I think my skating will be a decent skating.

ALEX TANGUAY: I don't know. It is hard to say right now. I might grow half inches.

ALEX TANGUAY: This is great. I have heard so many great things about Colorado, skiing, and golfing and this is actually quite nice, but as I said, this is a great day, but I haven't played in the NHL yet and I still got a lot of work to do before getting there, so going back do work tomorrow.

ALEX TANGUAY: My agent is ^ Hank Hughes from Boston.

ALEX TANGUAY: It is a great town. I mean, five, six thousand people every night - 10,000 people in the Playoffs. It is a great junior town and we get a lot of attention from the fans and from the media. It is basically like a pro team compared to the other team in the cue and this is a great spot to play in.

ALEX TANGUAY: I couldn't speak one little word. So I went to an English school for the past two years and I have learned it there.

ALEX TANGUAY: Yeah, I play with Mark Dimmy. When I got eliminated in the Playoffs, Dimmy said -- I was injured last year, I didn't play a whole lot and Mark Dimmy said: You are good. And, I said you: You are good as well, you are great, go in the NHL as soon as you can. He said, hopefully, we will see each other out there once again and you know, it is great.