I found out yesterday morning… I was at home with my wife and little boy, and (Penguins GM) Kyle (Dubas) obviously called me and told me to come to the rink…. It’s just kind of a whirlwind, just a lot of emotions. Playing in Pittsburgh for a long time, I’m very grateful for my time there. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, but just being able to hear that it was to the Oilers. It’s very exciting. They obviously have a very good opportunity here and to be a part of that. It’s going to be special.

Just my time playing there with Oil Kings. I enjoyed it so much. I had a lot of friends there, and I kind of grew up there a little bit. So it was when I had the opportunity to buy a home, that was kind of where I decided to set roots.

It’s obviously going to be a lot of emotions. It’s still very fresh, and it’ll be weird to put on a different jersey.

Just learning from it, I think. Learning from the mistakes I had last year, whether it was beginning of the year, not playing very well, to kind of finding my game at the end. Obviously, there was some bumps along the way, going down on conditioning stint, going down on waivers, and I think there was a choice to be made there, just whether I wanted to pack it in and call it or if I want to learn from that experience. And obviously, learning from that experience has made me a stronger person and a better goalie, and I think just having those experiences will be better for me down the road.

Obviously sad day to see those two guys go — two guys that have been great for us for a long time so disappointed to see them go. That being said, you know, excited to bring Jarz in and Spencer, you know, two guys that played well this year and think they can help.

I think he should be remembered for, you know, kind of leading the way to two Cup Finals, two exciting runs that he backstopped and he was a good person while he was here, always treated people well, and that’s important.

First and foremost, you want to thank those players that left us. They had a big part of our runs and they contributed a lot. But having the two guys coming in here, Tristan’s an established goaltender. He’s been in the league for a long time and just been very solid goaltender. I know last year was a little bit of a down, but looking at his track record over the years, he’s shown that he’s been very solid. So we feel that we’re getting better in that area.

And with Spencer, just a young defenseman who’s just getting established in the NHL, been playing really well and probably his biggest asset is his skating. Very quick, mobile out there and has been able to help offensively. He hasn’t been an offensive guy, big producer in the past, but has been solid this year. And that’s kind of what we’re looking for, is just contribute a little bit offence, good defender and just more young, puck-moving defenseman is a good asset to have.

I think no matter if you’re a Stanley Cup champion, or runner up, or a team that just missed the playoffs, I think you always need some element of change. And whether that’s a drastic change, or minor change, but everyone’s looking to get better and make small improvements. We feel that we’ve made some improvements to our team, and we are excited about the our next chapter.

There’s two players that were well established with our team, had a lot to do with our success going to two Stanley Cup Finals. Kulak is a very solid, reliable defenceman who stepped up big during the playoffs, his game increased. I think with our players, our team, we are always looking at what’s best for our run, and they there are friendships and it’s hard to lose a teammate, somebody that you’ve been with for these playoff runs. But I think in the long run, everyone’s looking at how we can make our team better.

He should be remembered very favorably. Not too often goalie gets two runs to the Stanley Cup Finals and he had his ups and downs, but I think a lot of his downs were probably a little unfair for him. You know, he wasn’t stellar every single night, but I think he was a really solid goaltender, and you don’t have the playoff success that we did without having solid goaltending. I think he should be remembered as a good quality goaltender who did a lot for our team.