‘“They’ve obviously done a great job of drafting, but they’ve also left guys in the minors for quite a while,” Houda said. “And when I look at the lockout year, I think that was a huge year for the organization because a lot of the guys that are here right now played down there. You have (Thomas) Vanek, Roy, Pominville, Gaustad, Paetsch. Some of those guys played down there for four years and (the lockout) bought them another year. So when they came up, they were ready. And they’re a tight-knit group. They like each other, they play together and they have fun.”‘
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