(I know it's early to ask this question and early to answer it, but how many of these kids could you see playing significant roles on opening night in LA?)

"... I always say this, to be real careful. I really think, what we've done, our potential is in a key area. I like our young forwards. (When he got there in 2006) No young defensemen, no young goalies. I think we've made huge strides in the last 24 months. Our best defenseman prospect here was Patrik Hersey. Now I look out there and I see potential. I see hope. You have to be real careful, if we're going to throw these kids out there just so I can tell you, 'See, we're young.'

"I see it. I know where we're going. But if you're going to do that, you're going to end up like the Islanders. I always go back to that Islander model. The (late '90s) New York Islanders kinda did that. They had (Zdeno) Chara, (Bryan) Berard, Kenny Jonsson, Brian McCabe. What a group. But questionable goaltending because (Roberto) Luongo wasn't ready. Think of that now.

"But what happened? Let's throw 'em out there so we can (tell people), we're getting younger. We are gonna get younger. But you gotta get (younger) when the kid's ready. So what happened? All those kids lost their confidence, all had to be traded because they completely lost their confidence, people were booing them. And they go elsewhere and have great success.

"Now, why that happened ... I remember that distinctly because I was scouting. I was trying to get Brian McCabe. And I remember going in to the Island, and I'm watching these four and saying, 'Wow, what a crew this is. This could be really special, but you know what? I'm not sure they should all be out there right now.' And sure enough, it was a fire drill. You could tell the kids had lost their confidence. The fans were booing. And everybody's now poaching. 'Let's get McCabe. Let's get Berard. Let's get this guy.'

"And I always think of that. Were those kids ready? Now, obviously the game has changed. More kids are younger playing. But because of our situation, to sell your youth when that youth ain't ready, we're gonna end up messing it up. You've got to stay with the plan.

"And it's hard. It's a lot easier breaking in forwards. The next hardest is defensemen, and the hardest are goalies. You can always hide a forward. (Anze) Kopitar still makes a number of mistakes in his youth. But he doesn't pay for them. You see the highlight films. But to be the ultimate winner, he's still got some things to learn. But while he's learning it, he's not being exposed.

"A defenseman makes mistakes while he's learning, everybody sees it and it might end up in your net. The closer you get to the end product ... that's why it's so hard on goalies, the harder it can be on their psyche. And the other thing that you have to be careful of, talking about the back: Ray Bourque wasn't only a great player, but because when you've got a Bourque, in the prime of his career, breaks in (Don) Sweeney. Breaks in (Kyle) McLaren. Breaks in (Glen) Wesley. That's huge. I'm talking about a guy who's in his prime, who's an All-Star.

"The Islanders didn't have that. That's kind of similar to what we're going to do. We have to develop our own, hopefully some day, top guys, who can then do it for the next group. But right now we don't have anything like that - a guy in his prime like we see with Lidstrom. He's in his prime. He's still one of the best players in the league. So it's a lot easier if you're looking at these kids on the bench. OK, we can put 'em with (Niklas) Lidstrom. He's still at the top of his game."

(You're not going to get a Lidstrom or a Bourque or anybody like that. Even after what happened with Rob Blake, is there a possibility of bringing in a veteran, not a star but a serviceable player who could fill that role?)

"We'll still look at it. But there's no way you're gonna get a guy. I'm talking a guy like Blake in his prime, at 28. You're not gonna get that guy. And that's one of the challenges. That's not going to happen."

(But not even an All-Star. Just a solid veteran.)

"Exactly. That's something you definitely look at. And it has to fit in with the money plans, not only for this year but going forward. And everybody's losing sight of what we want to do to keep these kids, and how the process has changed. Kids to keep them are getting a lot of money early. So that has to fit anybody we look at. So, yeah. But I guess I was trying to answer your question: There's no way we're getting a Ray Bourque kind of guy, in his prime like that.

"But your other part: OK, let's go down to an older guy, who's still serviceable. You gotta look at it, and if it's not there you're not there. So you then tend to say, 'well, let's throw the kids out there.'

"See, we'll see a little here, get a feel. Where they are, maturity. Where they are in their game. Some of them as they go through the summer, we'll see where some of them are in training camp. But to answer your question, yeah, we're certainly looking. Ideally for me, we're looking for a left shot because I think we're ok this way (right side). We'll continue to look at it."

Still more to come ...