Certainly, this year we'd expect him to earn a regular shift. In time, we certainly hope he'll be one of the guys who sets the tone for the team and leads the club.

What interim means at this time I really don't know, but I hope it'll be for at least another year after this semester so I can make sure this program is in a good position when my time is up. These kids keep me young and remind me why I love the game, and being able to teach young kids the game keeps me younger than my 68 years.

He's put in an awesome amount of time learning what he has to do.

Alexander is an incredibly gifted young player, and we are excited to have him join our club.

Simply put, he's one of the finest athletes and gentlemen that you can find on any team in any sport. This sends a great message to his teammates and our fan base. The message is: We're going to do this right, we're going to build it right and get the right people here. Certainly Olie is that kind of person.

The thing we have to understand is that Alex was in the homeland, playing for a professional team over there, he was in training camp and was earning a substantial amount of money. So the decision was not easy for him. But he wanted to come to Washington. He's a terrific young man who is going to be here for a long time.