Archives for January 15, 2008

‘”There’s just too much at stake right now with this hockey team, and to have that distracting myself it’s not fair,” he said. “And to my teammates I don’t think that process is fair, so we’re going to wait and hopefully get something hammered out at the end of the year.”‘

‘”That’s not the intention and that’s not the focal point,” Regier said. “The focal point is to try to sign him. You never say never about anything, but the thing we’d like to do and hope to do is to sign him. You’re disappointed because you want to keep going on it. “‘

'Regier was asked if it was possible that the team sent another offer to Campbell's agent before the end of the season and he said it was possible. "I think that's a possibility. You certainly want to respect the wishes of the player and the agent in this situation on one hand. One the other hand, you want to try and get him signed."'

'"There are guys who will follow," Ruff said. "You can walk a pretty fine line with a Gaustad, with a Campbell, even a Drew Stafford. One of our players, it may have been Gaustad, made a comment, ‘I tried to beat Drury to the rink on game day. I couldn’t do it.’ It’s a good foot print for guys to follow."'

‘More importantly for him, he’s almost without peer from a free agency standpoint. The crop of puck-moving defensemen will be thin this summer, which will put the blue-liners in demand and drive up prices.’

‘“I just got my first practice,” he said. “I’m not coming back yet. We’ll see how that goes. Definitely when I get back on the ice I want to put the best effort that I can.”’

Amerks kick off four-game road swing Wednesday (Amerks.com)