The Exchanges

Q Who picks the leader? Is it the GM, the coach, the players? I don't even know how that's selected. Is it written in contracts?

A Yeah, so it's absolutely, I don't think it's, uh, there's any rules. Um, I've, you know, played 15 years in the NHL, I voted for my captain once. One time that happened, um, when Bob Ganey retired from the Montreal Canadiens, the next season, here we were, we were a great team, we had just lost in the finals, and, um, and here we were, not rudderless, but this was a big hole, because Bob Ganey was, you know, this iconic captain of a team that was a dynasty, um, won one cup in the eighties, we lost a cup in, in 89, And you're gonna replace somebody that, um, was, for us as young players, just working on a different level, um, and, and somebody we watched as real young kids. So, we voted for the captain. Serge Savard was our general manager, who was one of the best hockey men and people that I ever worked with. Uh, just so well respected, just a great person. And he came in the locker room, said, we're gonna vote for the captain. And so we voted. And the first round came out, and I think there was only three candidates. There might have been four, but I remember Chris Chelios and Guy Carboneau, and I think Brian Scrooge got a few votes, but, and there might have been one more, but I'm not too sure, but the fact was, is Guy Carboneau and Chris Chelios tied, and so, ok, that was a tie, that's fine. Now we throw everybody out, and we say, ok guys, um, or sirs. Just between those two…

AI assessment note: “I don't think it's, uh, there's any rules. Um, I've, you know, played 15 years in the NHL, I voted”

Q How hard is it to go from being the best player on every team you've probably played on to the NHL where you might have to accept a role that's what you've never done before in order to make the team or in order to contribute?

A Yeah, um, I, I don't know that it was tough. I think it was a progression, and, um, and I, I don't know if acceptance is the right word, but, you know, when I came up in Montreal, I was not a regular player in my rookie season. I think I played 49 games, um, and you're always trying to get in the lineup. I, I don't think it was difficult. I think you're fighting so hard to, to, to find that position and find that role. I think that's more what it is. So, um, Um, Pat Burns was my coach, and he coached me the year before in, um, in the American League. And all of a sudden, what I realized that I was, I, I might not be a centerman in the NHL, and I was always a centerman. I never played anything else as a kid. Um, you know, when you're always really, really young, you played other positions, but always played center. So all of a sudden, I found myself on the left wing. I thought, well, this is interesting. And then I found myself on the right wing. And I would bounce back and forth between center, right wing, and left wing, and what I didn't realize, it was going to be such a blessing for me that we had four incredible centers in Montreal in the late eighties, and that it was going to be tough for me to play center regularly, but when somebody was hurt, I got, I typically got the chance to play center. So what the blessing was, is I became a player that, um, could play in, could p…

AI assessment note: “I don't know that it was tough. I think it was a progression”

Q What goes into making a decision outside of the economic factors? I mean, you're always dealing with sellers in this case who know more about the asset than you do. How do you?

A A lot of times we feel like we know more about the asset than the seller, um, or we know more about how the asset should be developed. That's what we think we're really good at. Um, what other decisions? Many. So we, we have what we would call an, a, um, investment criteria. And it's become, you know, for, for my team, they know it. We, it's second nature. We know what we have to look at the first five or six things, and then let's go, you know, sort of thumbs up. Oh, this looks good. Now, what else is there? Jurisdiction. Is it, is it in Africa, or is it at, ah, 10,000 feet on the side of a glacier in northern British Columbia? You know, so all those things. You can look at the resource, and you can look at many of the technical factors that go into, um, making money on that resource, but how do you get there? Um, oh, you know, the First Nations community, are they favorable to mining? Can you, um, can you involve them in this project? And then permitting. You know, You can't build a mine on the mountain next to Kelowna, you know, next to Okanagan Lake. Like, the government and the community's not gonna let you do that. Could be the best resource in the world. It's not gonna happen. So, those decisions, there's political, there's, there's access decisions, um, or it could be at the 66th parallel in the Arctic, and that provides other challenges that are gonna be more costly. D…

AI assessment note: “Jurisdiction... First Nations community, are they favorable to mining? And then permitting.”

Q And stranded means too small for most people to pay attention to? What does stranded mean?

A Could mean all those things. You know, a lot of people call it distressed, but we're not so, um, enamored with the word distressed. We like stranded because, um, Sure, the company that holds it could be distressed, but that has nothing to do with the asset and the value that, that we see, or potentially see, but you're right. Um, the market, the public market tends to ignore things that don't, you know, that, that they can't really promote to be something massive, right? When somebody puts their money into a junior exploration project, they want to see the The potential to take your 10 cent stock to two dollars, and that means a massive increase in the resource. We sort of come after where the resource has been somewhat defined, and we think it's economic. Yes.

AI assessment note: “the market, the public market tends to ignore things that don't”

Q How did that change your relationship to the team after you were traded? I mean, you, you just said you would have a tattoo of like the Montreal Canadiens logo on your heart, sort of. How does that change going to Edmonton at that point where you're still a player, you still want to play, you love the game, but does your relationship to the team change?

A I think so. So, playing for Montreal in those days, and I'm not, I don't know the modern day, you know, it was the New York Yankees, it was all those things, and you believed in everything that was happening here, and, um, you just didn't think there was another place to play, like this was the place, you know, and I'm sure there was other players feeling about that, about their own team. And then, as my career, you know, as you, as you get more experience, what I think great teams become is, and in today's modern game, where you have a team in Las Vegas that has no history, but lots of success, all these different teams. So, I do believe this. That the front of the jersey, uh, the logo does mean less, and I think what means the same is your teammates.

AI assessment note: “That the front of the jersey, uh, the logo does mean less”

Q You played for some great coaches. I mean, Pat Burns, Scotty Bowman, I'm probably leaving out a few here. What was, what was different about great coaches to average coaches?

A That's probably hard to describe, so I'll just go through those two, but Pat was a, a great coach, but he was, I think Pat and I, uh, had a good relationship, because he, he coached me when I was playing in the American League, and he, he definitely was, um, you know, I had more rapport with him, I could speak to him more than a lot of the other coaches I didn't know as well, and he was a real fiery guy, real passionate, um, loses temper a lot, but you knew his, his, his bark was way worse than his bite, um, So you, you, the players trusted him, and I think that was, that was Pat, and he, he wore everything on his sleeve, right? So you, you knew where you stood with him, and you knew when he was probably going overboard, because he was just such an emotional guy, but really, really great person. Scotty, so I'll skip right to Scotty, because, you know, he, he fascinates everybody. Um, one thing I, I think I recognize with Scotty is he would make any decision that he thought was right, and you might think, That was crazy, you know, like he, he would do things that, um, that other coaches I don't think would do, and I think part of that was his success, where he was in his career, because I played for him when he was in his sixties, or even his mid-sixties, and he could make a decision and never worry once about his job if it was the wrong decision, and that's a hard thing for any…

AI assessment note: “he would do things that, um, that other coaches I don't think would do”

Q Did you come back to Canada or were you still in Detroit at that time?

A I did, and that was a decision, so my last season we played in Nashville, and we left Detroit, and it probably broke us away from the city of Detroit, which was a great place to live, and we enjoyed it there, and we could, we could have stayed and lived, we had lots of friends there, lots of contacts, and We really like the community, believe it or not, and for a lot of Canadians, that's like, really, Detroit? Yes, a great, a really good place to live, real good community, good schools, and, um, where we lived anyway. Obviously, the city of Detroit has its own challenges, which is getting better, but, so the decision was, we were in Nashville, which was not a place that we really had any attachment to, and, um, it was a very nice city. We really enjoyed the season we played there, and, And I obviously wasn't going to play. I retired, but I was going to be told I was going to retire too. I maybe could have went to Europe and, but I was not going to get another contract in the NHL when I was 36.

AI assessment note: “I did, and that was a decision, so my last season we played in Nashville”

Q You kind of grew up in the NHL as it was becoming this huge business, right? I mean, I don't know what the average salary was when you started, but when you ended your career, it was much different.

A Absolutely. That's one thing I look at all the time, because people ask me, man, the players make so much money now, and I said, we were very well paid. We were, there's no grudge here of the, because we were paid a lot more than the generation before us, and that's just, that's just what it is, and the players today, they deserve the money they're making, and, um, and, and they're probably not going to make it as long as we did, because I see that the careers, uh, yeah, a guy loses a step, boy, he's not, he's not long for the NHL, it happens faster now, Um, they train harder, they're in better shape, they're bigger and faster, and when you stumble a little bit, um, you know, I, I, I think your career ends faster, but anyway, um, you know, I was in a, in a, I think every era was, is a great era, and, you know, I, I certainly wouldn't, wouldn't change the era I played, and, and, and things did change a lot from, from 1988 to 2003, um, Maybe one of the biggest changes from start to finish, um, in terms of money and business, um, the, the, the game scene.

AI assessment note: “things did change a lot from, from 1988 to 2003”

Q And did that change how you, you enjoyed that last season?

A Well, so I think I was very conscious of where I was, and I was very conscious that I didn't want to hate my last season. I wasn't physically, um, you know, that healthy, um, And so it was a grind. It was grueling, even only playing 41 games, and I also didn't want to hate what I was doing. I was trying to be conscious of where I was, how great a life I'd led in the National League, and I was still playing in the NHL, and so I did not want to regret one minute of it, and so I was conscious to be careful of that. So I didn't, I just, I enjoyed, I accepted the role, um, not every day. Maybe they're all frustrated me a few times that, you know, Barry Trotz would come and say, Brent, you're not playing. I really respected Barry. You know, he'd come to me every day and say, you're not going to play today, but he had, you know, I felt like he had a real respect for, for me and, um, as a player, and he was, he was a real good guy to play for. So I think your question back to, you know, what was that September like? I think the transition was pretty good because I immediately jumped into something. It wasn't overwhelming.

AI assessment note: “I enjoyed, I accepted the role, um, not every day.”

Q You said he was a great captain. What's the role of an NHL captain of a team?

A Yeah, so, it's very different part of leadership than I face today as a leader in business and, and working with other leaders, um, and decision makers. The captain of a hockey team, you know, typically they're your best player. Not, not always. I, I think we, we have a hard time. Society always want, or society leadership and business and sports, we want to talk about leaders. And we, you know, talk about the characteristics they have, and for sure that's, there's a truth to that. But in hockey, like, the captain's not making decisions, so he's not the leader of the team. He's the, he may be the emotional leader or the best player leader on the ice and in the locker room, but, but he's beyond the leader, the leadership of decision making, which I think, well, as I learned in business, everything about leadership is decision making, and I think two things that I, I would say about, not, not just, one thing I would say about an NHL captain, Or a leader in business. We, we just can't seem to put our finger exactly on what a leader should do, or look like, or his characteristics, or her. But what I will say is, a great leader, people follow. Why they do that? Charisma, the way they lead by example. I think one thing, for me, a leader is, believable. Do you believe? When people believe a leader, they follow. And that's the best way I can describe it. In hockey, The captain has to b…

AI assessment note: “In hockey, The captain has to be believable. He has to lead by example.”

Q right? You're a professional hockey player. You get paid to play hockey. What behind the scenes don't we see in terms of preparation? Is it a full year round job? Is it a nine to five on a daily basis? Are you just going for a morning warmup? Like walk me through a little bit of what goes into how you excel and how you become a professional hockey player.

A Yeah, so I don't, I don't have the secret, um, and I don't think any of us do. You know, as a kid, all I wanted to do was play hockey, and I think, you know, my teammates and my colleagues were probably very similar to me. More, more Canadians when I came up in the league, and now, as my career progressed, obviously, lots of Europeans, lots of Russians, all the best players in the world, the league just kept getting better. So what we, what fans don't see, I think it's, You can be fairly typical on what they don't see. The travel's tough, the work, you know, the, the, the, the toll on your body, um, how hard it is every day, and probably what one doesn't think about as much is just the stress and the emotional, um, toll, and so it's very, very competitive. The league's competitive, but also your team is very competitive, um, So, you're fighting for your job every day, maybe not the superstars, or maybe not in sort of the prime of your career, not thinking about that as much, but when you're younger and older, you're trying to keep your job, and that is a daily exercise that you have to work very hard at, and, um, and you're always trying to play your best, and we all, you know, when, as players, I think that we all think of ourselves as the best game we ever played, or the best season we ever had, Played? That was how good we are. That's the standard, and that, that's how good …

AI assessment note: “So what we, what fans don't see... The travel's tough, the work”

Q What are the advantages to being private in a generally public, well-funded?

A So well-funded is the key. Um, nothing junior mining is well-funded. Um, Whether it's exploration, and we're not exploration guys, we're not, we, uh, we look for assets that are ready to, or close to being developed as mines, and when you look at that whole sphere, that whole world, there's very few projects that are ever going to be mines. There's, you know, they explore for a while, find something, but it's likely never going to be large or economic enough, um, you know, enough metal Uh, in a concentrated area to become a mind. So, um, we look through a lot of stuff, and we work for a lot of people. So we see a lot of the projects that are out there that could be what we call stranded. Um.

AI assessment note: “well-funded is the key. Um, nothing junior mining is well-funded.”