"I'm a big believer in this process. I think my beliefs were formed like 15 years ago. I just felt hockey had something missing. I knew some people who were in baseball, and they're the other sport that has to deal with an 18-year-old draft.

"When I was a kid I'd worked at hockey schools and baseball schools. And the way they did things in terms of detail, small groups, Socratic method of teaching, half-speed ... everybody said, well baseball's a stagnant game and it's easier to do. Well, that's not true. You're practicing cutoffs. You got three people, you hit the ball in the gap - I can still remember seeing it. It's the same thing as zone coverage, puck goes in the corner, how do three guys interact.

"When I got into hockey, I was amazed, number one, there was no development program. Baseball, again, was way ahead in terms of three levels of (minor league) play, winter ball, different levels, putting kids together that were at similar levels. The whole attitude that kids look to going to development as a reward. Where hockey's attitude was almost like, when I first started with those kids, it was punishment. It was ridiculous. Where a kid used to get a letter in baseball saying, 'You're invited to go to winter ball,' that kid was excited. In hockey, you used to have it, it was, 'Oh, why do I gotta do this?'

"Over the years it kind of evolved.

"I was really happy with what we had in San Jose. Because the other thing that happens when you go through this process, it's a marvelous opportunity for your scouts, your coaches, your management to get on the same page. And also the other thing that happens during these is, there's not the inherent pressure (that) the next night you gotta play to win. It's more of a calmness to your coaches. They can see the vision now. In the season it's always hard.

"But in terms of building an infrastructure, I think it serves a marvelous purpose. There's so many things involved ... I also think there's different levels. This is again what baseball does. You graduate from this level to different curriculum. Like this group out there now, for most of them it's their first time through. Their curriculum should not the same as the guys who have been in the organization two years ... .Obviously there's some kids down there now, as you can plainly see, that are way above some other ones. But the whole thing of throwing 'em all together doesn't make sense.

"The other thing that happens here is, the coaches become better teachers. Everybody talks about teaching and stuff. But so many times they think that because they know their material they know how to teach. There's a huge difference between knowing your material and knowing how to teach. You've all seen that in school. You have some brilliant professor, but he can't teach. You've got to get the audience involved. Stimulate them. Find ways to make them pay attention.

"I can go on and on about the benefits of this. And quite frankly, for me, it's the best part of the job. You see the young people come in, and they want to learn. The other thing that happens too is, don't forget, and I get excited when I see it: the kids learn and they interact in that setting. You can't underestimate learning the new teammates, learning to like each other, hanging around. You see four of them come in together. Who's your leaders, who's your magnet?"

"You've got to see that in groups. You start getting a feel for how kids interact. Who's got the charisma, who's kind of a loner, who has to be drawn in. I mean, the body of evidence is overwhelming ... Particularly when you're in a building mode, what I see out there, I see hope.

"Two or three years ago, our best defense prospect is Patrik Hersley. I mean, it's not even close to that right now. Now, (it's) getting them to where they have to go. But I see much more hope. And if you don't have that, you're in big trouble when you try to build like this.

"I spent time going down to some training camps in baseball, just to reaffirm. I knew a lot of baseball people when I was growin' up. And the way they ran stations, the way it was small groups, the energy. That's what I'm looking for out there now. When you see the small groups like that, and you see the pupil-teacher ratio, the kids know they're being watched, you're looking not only at what they're doing you feel the juice, versus just runnin' these drills and the kids are flippin' pucks and everything."

More to come ...