As the Rangers prepare to face the Penguins in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Post columnist Steve Serby faced off with defenseman Keith Yandle for some Q&A:
Q: What would you tell Rangers fans about this team’s chances to bring home a Cup?
A: I think we got a chance … if we play well, we know we can do it. The main goal is getting into the playoffs, giving yourself a chance, and now it’s gotta be a taste in our mouth to have that we want to go out and get it.
Q: You’ve been to two conference finals. What would winning a Cup mean to you?
A: It would mean everything. It’s what you dream of as a kid, what you dream of as an adult. It’s something, I can only imagine that until your name’s on it, you won’t stop dreaming about it.
Q: Can you imagine what this city would be like if you won the Cup?
A: No [turns and points to photo of 1994 parade on wall]. That’s what I think of all the time.
Q: What do you like best about this team?
A: There are no selfish guys on this team. Everyone just wants to win. No one cares about getting 30 goals, or whatever it is, guys just want to win. It doesn’t matter if we win 1-0, or 5-0 … especially for a team to have as many superstars as we do, that’s a good thing to have about your team.
Q: Henrik Lundqvist.
A: He drives our team. He works so hard every day whether it’s game or practice, he brings it every day.
Q: How much of a comfort is it going into the Stanley Cup playoffs knowing you have him in your net?
A: Yeah, it’s huge to have the best goalie on your team. To have that mindset that you have him back there every game, it’s a huge advantage for us.
Q: Derek Stepan.
A: He’s another guy that, unless you’ve played with him, you don’t have as much respect as you should have. He’s a guy who, when I got here, I was amazed at how smart he is in all three zones. Obviously, he can score, he can make plays, but defensively, he is as solid as they get. He’s a guy you want to be on the ice when he’s out there every time.
Q: Mats Zuccarello.
A: He’s got some of the best vision I’ve seen making plays. He’s another guy who wants to make everybody else better, and you love playing with him.
Q: Derick Brassard.
A: I always loved the way he plays. His offensive thinking, the way he thinks the game. He watches every game, whether it’s college, Quebec League, to get better. He talks about it to help everybody else get better too, and he’s doing it all in the right way.
Q: How does Alain Vigneault motivate?
A: I think he does a great job of knowing when to push us, when not to, what he needs to get out of guys.
Q: The acquisition of Eric Staal.
A: I think it hopefully pushes us over the edge to get to that next step. What he’s done obviously in his career is amazing, but if you look at his playoff stats, he’s a gamer. He’s a guy, like Step, can play in all three zones really well, and you want to be out there with him.
Q: The Penguins.
A: I think obviously they’re a high-skilled team. They’ve been playing well. It’s a new season right now, everyone starts at zero, and you gotta be at your best right now to win, and I think we’re up for the challenge.
Q: Why did it take you a little while to acclimate to New York?
A: I was in a situation in Phoenix for so long, you get used to a certain style of play or the way things go through you, or you have a say in a lot of things, and I think you come to a new team and you’re almost starting fresh where it’s you’re trying to learn what every guy’s tendencies are, you want guys to learn what your tendencies are. There’s a lot of area where you’re trying to get used to everyone, and that’s coaching staff as well, and it’s definitely a process.
Q: You were heralded as the missing piece. Did you put added pressure on yourself?
A: It was one of those things I just tried to fit in for the most part, just come in and be a good guy in the locker room and almost to a fault, I just tried to kinda fit in, especially on the ice, just try not to get in the way too much and just help the team win. I think when I’m at my best, I’m pushing the play, pushing myself, and I think I’m doing a little bit more of that now.
Q: So you deferred a little bit when you got here.
A: I think so. Those guys had been here for a long time, so it was a little bit of playing on my heels a little bit, but it’s good now.
Q: Your on-ice mentality?
A: I try to go into games calm and relaxed, but I think a lot of the time the emotions can get to you and you get riled up. But for the most part, I try to stay pretty calm.
Q: What drives you?
A: Winning the Stanley Cup, I think is the biggest thing. The beginnings of your career, you kinda just want up make it, and play in the NHL every day. I think when you get a little bit older, it’s that prize to win the Stanley Cup and have your name on that is the main goal.
Q: A scouting report on Keith Yandle.
A: I don’t see myself being a coach, so I’m not great at that (smile), but I’d say try to be unselfish, try to make everyone else better, and have a lot of fun while doing it.
Q: Why were Brian Leetch and Ray Bourque boyhood idols?
A: The biggest thing with Ray was he was the face of Boston hockey, especially being a defenseman, obviously having accessibility to him with his son Chris being one of my best friends and being able to pick his brain at a young age and learn from him was pretty amazing. And then, a guy like Brian Leetch, my dad went to B.C., Brian Leetch also went there. It’s kinda one of those things that the older I got, my dad would tell me to watch him and to try to emulate my game after him, and still try to do so.
Q: The Boston Marathon tragedy: Where were you, and how did you find out about it?
A: I was in Arizona, taking my pregame nap, and usually I shut my phone off, and my wife and I only had one daughter at the time, they were home in Boston, and I woke up to a lot of missed calls, a lot of texts, and you get like that sick feeling in your stomach right away. From then on, that day, it was just kind of putting on the news and trying to get track of everyone. I knew my brother was at the Marathon, he was probably less than a quarter a mile from the finish line with his kids. It was one of those things that you’re just trying to get in touch with everyone and make sure everyone’s OK.
Q: How long did it take you to get a hold of your brother?
A: It was a while to get a hold of him ’cause kinda cell service was down, but once he got to an area where he got some cell, he called his wife and she kinda let everybody know that they were OK.
Q: You’ve been to the Boston Marathon?
A: We used to go all the time. Even when I was in high school, we used to work it every year, we’d volunteer and work it. And my coach in high school was running, he runs every year.
Q: Martin Richard (the 8-year-old boy who lost his life there).
A: His family and my wife’s family were close and they lived in the same neighborhood. I got a chance to meet them, I wore his jersey when we played Chicago maybe a week or so later, I wore his name on my jersey, Phoenix and the NHL let me do that to kinda give some recognition. It was pretty cool, and I got to meet the family after that that summer, I went over to their house and was there for a couple of hours. … It was an amazing couple of hours.
Q: What do you think about when you think back to that day?
A: It’s one of those things, when you think of the Boston Marathon, especially for people from Boston, you think of it as just a joyful day, and the Red Sox are usually playing at home, and everyone’s kinda just having a good time. Racing isn’t the most watched thing, but when it’s Boston Marathon time, everybody in Boston’s cheering everybody on, it’s one of those things that you might not be rooting for one person or one team, you’re kinda rooting for everyone. It’s a cool day to be a part of, just kinda having that feeling where everyone’s rooting for each other.
Q: You still think of the boy?
A: Actually, when I got here, Kevin Hayes was friendly with their family too, so you get reminded of ’em every day ’cause Kevin wears MR on his glove for Martin Richards. It’s kind of a thing where pretty much every day you see that and you think about him … it’s not the greatest thing to have to think about, but to have Kevin do that for him every day, it’s pretty cool.
Q: Best NHL moment?
A: I’d probably say probably my first game is one of those things where your family’s there, everyone’s there, I had a couple of uncles who came in town, mom and dad … it was in Detroit, it was when Detroit had all those good players, and obviously they still do, but it was a lot of fun playing in that game.
Q: Best Rangers moment?
A: I’d say without a doubt it was when Step scored that overtime goal to beat Washington. It was amazing to be out there, to be on the ice and have a front-row seat. I’ll never forget his face after he scored that goal.
Q: The 2011 All-Star Game?
A: I just took it all in, with all superstars in the locker room, I was just trying to meet as many guys, talk to guys, kinda pick guys’ brains a little bit as much as I could. It was a lot of fun, and something I’ll never forget.
Q: When the Red Sox came back from 0-3 against the Yankees what do you remember doing?
A: I was actually in high school at a boarding school, and I remember we were in our dorm room. We had a common area, where you just sit and watch TV, usually it was just a couple of guys watching the game, and this one it was the whole school in there, everyone in that dorm in there watching, rooting for the Sox. It was a fun time.
Q: Favorite Red Sox?
A: I loved Pedro [Martinez], Mo Vaughn growing up I loved … Trot Nixon, guys like that … obviously Big Papi [David Ortiz] now, guys like that.
Q: Athletes in other sports you admire.
A: Tiger Woods. I just couldn’t imagine playing a sport by myself, and the way he would win and always be in contention to win, and what he did for that sport was amazing. A guy like Michael Jordan, obviously. My dad loved Larry Bird and I always loved Larry Bird, I always as a kid had a Larry Bird jersey on or a T-shirt. Still to this day, I think he’s probably one of my favorite athletes ever.
Q: Your older brother Brian.
A: As a kid I always wanted to be like him, whatever he was doing, I tried to get into, he always didn’t let me. He’s becoming a Boston police officer right now, he’s in the Academy right now so he’s got a month or two left. To this day I still look up to him.
Q: Your 5-year-old daughter Mila.
A: She’s really sweet, she’s just getting kind of her funny bone too, where she’s goofing around, you can tell she’s got a lot of me in her, where it’s when she’s having fun, every day she wakes up and just wants to laugh and have a good day. And the joy that she brings to me every day is amazing. And I think her unselfishness too where she’s thinking about others, whether it’s her sister or her mom, she always wants to make sure everyone else is kinda taken care of before her.
Q: That’s kind of the way you play hockey, isn’t it?
A: Yeah a little bit I guess, yeah.
Q: Lola will be 3 next month.
A: She’s my little handful right now. She can switch it on and off, and she’s the sweetest little girl you could imagine. Especially compared to my oldest, she always wants to cuddle and be close to me. She’s going through that stage now where she misses me when I’m gone and everytime I come home to see her, big smile, and her running to me, even if I was gone for a half hour.
Q: How do you deal with stress, the pressures of being a New York Ranger?
A: I think coming home every day to my kids. They don’t know me as a hockey player, or playing for the Rangers. They just know me as their dad. … It’s one of those things when you can come home to, especially having two girls, you’re playing dolls, or you’re coloring with pink and purple every day (smile), you’re not thinking about hockey too much. I think for me just kinda getting away from it when I get home like that, really helps me out.
Q: You’re a free agent after the season.
A: Honestly, I haven’t really even thought of it, especially now.
Q: Favorite NYC restaurants.
A: Valbella, Scarpetta, Nobu, ROC.
Q: You’ve never been on Twitter.
A: I think Paul Bissonnette kinda turned me away from it. He obviously is known for his Twitter and stuff like that, but I remember days he’d come to the rink and he’d be down a little bit. I’d be like, “Why are you down?” “I got 100,000 people making fun of me on Twitter, it’s hard not to take it to heart sometimes.”
Q: You’re a WWE fan. Sting?
A: He was my guy, yeah. He actually came back a couple of months ago. … I gotta get back more into it than I have been.
Q: Hobbies.
A: Golf, hanging out with the kids, going to the beach.
Q: Your wife loves the shopping?
A: Yeah, I don’t shop at all. I didn’t even know what Amazon.com was (smile).