Opening statement…
“First of all I just got here at 12:30 p.m. this afternoon. It was an interesting flight, it was very exciting. A lot of thoughts raced through my head, but I really haven’t had the chance to assess what has happened. I know one thing, I am playing tonight here for my new team and I am very, very excited. I am looking forward to a new beginning. I know a couple of familiar faces in the organization including Gerard Gallant and Doug MacLean. I know both of those great people for a long time since I came into NHL.”

About what energizes him about playing in Columbus…
“I know it’s a young team. I have played against the Blue Jackets when I played for Detroit and every time we were playing here, or against them, it was very tough competition. I do believe we have a lot of good players here, we just have to find a way to play together here, as a group, and work on the improvements that we have to improve.”

About the challenge ahead when he was told of the trade…
“We had a short conversation, but Doug was very excited to have me here, and I expressed the same feelings. I can sense in his voice that he is very excited about the trade. The feeling has started to sink into me over the past 12 hours or so. I just met a lot of my new teammates and trainers and I am sure that I am going to be asking their names again tomorrow. But I will do my best to learn the names of my teammates before we go out on the ice to face St. Louis.”

On what he knows about the city of Columbus…
“I have heard from some of my friends back in Detroit that this is a great city. I know that the fans are very rowdy here and they are very excited when the team does well.”

On Nikolai Zherdev…
“I have played against him and he is a very good player. He’s got a great shot. I never met him in Russia, I met him here and I have played against him. I remember when I first came to this country and not being able to speak a word of English, it was very difficult. I look forward to working with him. I think he will feel more comfortable more so because we speak the same language.”