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Coaching really is an individual philosophy.

Mark Messier

Coaching

Philosophy

I think to compare any time you win a Stanley Cup would be unfair to all the players from all the teams.

Mark Messier

Time

I think the thing you always got to keep in mind, you know, hockey is a game of one-on-one battles.

Mark Messier

Mind

I think the idea of the obstruction through the neutral zone and away from the puck was an excellent rule.

Mark Messier

Idea

Zone

I think now what you're seeing is guys that are in the peaks of their careers anywhere from 27 to 35 years old, seems to be when they play their best hockey.

I played with a lot of great players before. They're all the same. They take a lot of responsibility for their own play, put a lot of pressure on themselves to perform and to play well.

I never was brought into the league thinking as far as, you know, statistics, things like that. We were really brought into the league in a team concept. Everything was focused around winning.

As a captain, I think it's important that the players really know who you are and what you stand for, what your beliefs are, and to be consistent in those if things are going good or things are going bad.

Mark Messier

Beliefs

25 years later, you know, I haven't really put too much emphasis on any kind of individual goal, other than trying to win any particular night, trying to find a way to do that.

Like I said, a 30-year-old hockey player, even when I came to New York when I was 30, I was on the downside of my career, pretty much the end of my career.

I just think overall a lot of it has to do with conditioning and players putting in the time and the effort in the off-season to keep themselves in condition for 12 months a year.

Really the team often will take on the personality of its coach.

If I had to compare any of the two, I'd compare the first one in Edmonton, the first one here in New York because it had been so long in New York since we had won. Obviously, being the first time to ever win the cup in Edmonton, they were fairly similar in that regard.

I would never say one was more important or more gratifying than the next because there's a tremendous amount of work, as you know, that goes into winning a cup.

Mark Messier

Work

Winning

Well, my transition into being a captain was easy.

Mark Messier

Being