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NHL DRAFT

June 26, 2009

Evander Kane

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

Q. How does it feel to be a Thrasher?
EVANDER KANE: It feels unbelievable. I've been looking forward to this day and happy to be part of the Atlanta Thrasher organization.

Q. After the first three guys were gone, did you think your name was next?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I had a feeling that Atlanta could be a team that I could possibly go and fortunately enough they decided to pick me and I'm more than excited to be a part of their organization.

Q. How excited are you to go and play potentially with one of your buddies?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I think him being part that have organization is going to help me going into camp and showing me the ropes a little bit but at the same time I'm going to be going into that camp trying to make the team right off hop and that's going to be my goal.

Q. Do you think you have a pretty good shot of making the team next year?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I do. I think if I continue to have the summer that I possibly am going to have, I think it's going to be real important for me to go in and have a good camp but I'm going to give myself a really good opportunity to make that team.

Q. What are your thoughts on officially now being the highest drafted Vancouver Giant?
EVANDER KANE: Well, I think it's a special honor and a special thing for me. Being a Vancouver Giant is obviously a great privilege and I know being part of that organization I know was tremendous for me. Hopefully there can be somebody else that goes higher than me one day.

Q. You played center and wing. Where do you see yourself with the Thrashers?
EVANDER KANE: I played the wing pretty much the whole season. So I'll probably start off on the wing when it comes to going to camp.

Q. Do you feel like you'll make the jump for next year?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I do. I think I'm only going to continue to get bigger and stronger and hopefully by the summer I'll have put on enough weight and I think with my skill level, I might compete to make the team, I should be successful.

Q. Is that your main focus this summer?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I think that's my main focus, but at the same time, you want to get better in all areas, especially skill development, making the jump to the NHL is a jump in all areas and I think I need to improve in all areas.
You know, size -- as much as size is important, it's obviously trying to get better with your skills.

Q. Talk about going from Vancouver, a great hockey market to Atlanta, how do you feel about that?
EVANDER KANE: Well, I think Atlanta, they are a growing market, and you know, they are only going to get better as the years go on.
I think when they start winning which is hopefully soon in the years to come they are going to be a great hockey city and once the fans start coming to the rinks and seeing the way we are going to be playing, it's going to be a great hockey town.

Q. Will you now go home and make yourself an Atlanta Thrasher on EA NHL?
EVANDER KANE: Probably when I get to 2010, I'll probably do that for sure.

Q. How fun was it being on the Canadian junior team?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, it's an honor to be a Top-5 pick and especially going to a team like Atlanta, it's a great opportunity for me and I'm excited to be a part of that.

Q. Is that a life lesson of never give up?
EVANDER KANE: Exactly, once you're cut, you're obviously respectful of that team's decision but you never know what can happen and it proved to be that in my case.

Q. Inaudible.
EVANDER KANE: It's unbelievable, coming to the rink today, I was pretty nervous and not knowing what can happen, and I think after being drafted now, it's kind of a bit of a relief but at the same time I'm really excited to get to Atlanta and start my career off that. So I'm pretty excited.

Q. You said before that your favorite team was Colorado growing up. Was there disappointment when they didn't call you?
EVANDER KANE: Not necessarily. They were my favorite team growing up, and you're not -- nobody is going to get drafted to their team, and I'm more than excited to be part of Atlanta, and that's where my favorite team is right now.

Q. I asked you the other day if you daydreamed about playing with Kovalchuk, will you daydream about that tonight?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I think playing with a guy like that is definitely going to elevate my game, and hopefully it can be a real good line combination in the near future.

Q. Is there anything that you'll be working on over the summer?
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I think continuing to put on weight and just continuing to work on the basics, skating, shooting, puck handling. I think those are all things that you need to continue to work on in order to make the jump to the next level and those are the things that I'm going to be working on.

Q. Talk about how playing in Vancouver helped you?
EVANDER KANE: I play playing for Don Hay helped my game become a lot more complete and him being a professional, guy like he is showed me how to be a professional and the Vancouver Giants are a first-class organization and I probably won't be here without them. So I have to give them a lot of credit as well.

Q. Most people in Atlanta, Thrasher fans will never have seen you play. Can you describe your signature goal?
EVANDER KANE: I think just coming on the left wing and putting one upstairs just at the top of the circle, that's my favorite type of goal and hopefully I can score a lot of those.

Q. What's the best fight you've ever had?
EVANDER KANE: Probably in red deer, Atlanta Ferraro (ph).

Q. Not a big surprise for you considering how much you talked with Atlanta.
EVANDER KANE: Yeah, I think I've talked with them since halfway through the season and we had some conversations and going into the combine, we had some pretty good discussions with them and I was able to meet with them and have good about a five-minute discussion and I felt pretty confident that if I was there, Atlanta was going to take me and I'm really happy that they made that decision.

Q. What did it mean to you to get recalled to the World Junior team?
EVANDER KANE: It was a great feeling. I was disappointed to get released in the first place but when Pat Quinn called me I was extremely excited and hopped on the next plane the next morning. It was a great experience and great playing in front of those Canadian fans.
I think that was my goal, coming in, I knew I was going to start off as 13th forward and I wanted my way up to get an important role when big games came around and I thought I did that.

End of FastScripts

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