But as soon as the trade happened and I got down to Florida, I felt great.
The first morning after I arrived last week, I got up in my hotel room, walked over to the window, pulled back the curtains and the ocean was right there in front of me. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty amazing to wake up to that. But honestly that view wasn't even the best part of the day.
Right when I got to the rink, the guys were awesome to me and very welcoming. You can just feel the vibe in the locker room when you get in there. Everyone is having fun with one another.
Then when I got on the ice for practice, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is another level of skill and competitiveness.' It's fun to see that and it's really fun to be a part of because that's what makes you better. That's why I think this team is so good this year. Everybody is pushing one another every single day in practice and in games. We just need to keep doing that the rest of the year.
Everybody wants to be in the position that we're in right now. Every single player in the NHL wants to go to the playoffs and try to make a run of it. We have a great team and we're in a good spot, but right now we have to keep doing it and take it game by game and build up.
For myself, I just want to bring simple stuff to the team. That's my game - simple. It's all about hard first passes, playing physical and being hard to play against in the defensive zone. That's what I would call my game if I had to sum it up. It's not too complicated.
Maybe I can also bring a little calmness on the back end. I know what type of player I am, which could calm the team down as well. You always need different types of guys out there. You need point producers and shutdown guys as well. It's about having that balance.
It was great to get a win in my first game as a Panther, and being able to get my first point less than a minute into the game was awesome. It was kind of lucky that my pass went off G's skate and right onto Barkov's tape. Barkov's a pretty good player, so he made the best out of that one.
I just want to say thank you to G and thank you to Barkov for that point.
Being one of the new guys on the team, it's nice to be on the road right now. You're always closer with your teammates and chat a little bit more than you do at home, which I think helps get into the group a little bit easier.
We've got two more games left on this trip and are about to hop on a train to Ottawa.
I haven't done too many train rides lately, so it should be fun.
Looking forward to seeing you all back in South Florida,
Robert Hagg
\As told to FloridaPanthers.com's Jameson Olive*
