NYI: How would you describe yourself, are you more an old-school coach, or a new-school guy?
LR: There's a mixture of old-school and new-school, but I definitely think the communication and building those relationships with players is huge nowadays. Good teams, good organizations do a good job of it and you see the results. I know that's the way Doug feels. That doesn't mean coddling them, that just means communicating with them and being truthful and honest. That's what everybody - especially in the sports world - wants. There's the easy way, people always tell you what you want to hear, or vice versa, you get criticized right down where it shatters your confidence. You have to just take a truthful, honest approach and create that family atmosphere and that culture.
That's something that works well with me. I like to communicate with the players and definitely like to create relationships with them. There are honestly tough conversations sometimes but I think you have to have those and be honest with them and tell them, even if they are upset or it becomes a bit of an argument. The next day I'm okay with that, you have to make sure that you're okay with that and I think that's a good starting point to build that relationship off the ice and it translates on the ice.