Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.
I'm a big believer that if you can have success in the playoffs, when it means the most and when the game is at its highest pace, it always carries into the next year and it gives a player confidence.
The team that can be consistent - for the most part all year - is going to be the team that is going to get into the playoffs.
You make mental notes. You're a coach, so you make mental notes from matchups, to who steps up in the playoffs to who doesn't, different types of players.
I just want to help, first of all, the Chicago Fire to grow, to change the mentality to a winning team, and to reach the playoffs. That's my goal. But also to change the game style into a team which is able to control every opponent.
You just want the highs to start once the playoffs start.
You don't get a chance to go to the playoffs and World Series very often, but to be able to experience it with the people you love most in the world is really fun.
I just love the Buffalo market. Say what you want about their fans, it'll be December and they've been out of the playoffs for a month. But if there's a December game with snow, there's still going to be 72,000 people in those stands. One of the most passionate, loyal groups of fans in the National Football League, bar none.
I played in Joe Louis in a playoff game. I played there when the roof caved in for half a season. The facility is great for basketball because it goes straight up, so you feel like the fans are on top of you.
When you have a tough year or a year that didn't go the way you wanted it, especially the playoffs and all that and not being able to take advantage of our team and our talent on our team, you feel that. And whenever something is taken away from you like that, you definitely cherish it more.
