You get your third- and fourth-line guys contributing offensively and it's a big bonus for you.

Our (third and fourth line) is gonna be important, a big factor, especially when you play every other night for the rest of the season. The third and fourth lines have to pick it up and be the difference most nights.

We've got a lot of guys at camp, so it's an opportunity for maybe one of them. But, they had high expectations of (Nik). You could see the way he was playing so far, what he did last year. They were depending on him a lot this year. Hopefully he'll heal quick and be here for the middle of the season and the remainder of the season and the playoffs.

The big concern was that nobody knew what was going on.

That was a big bonus.

It's just 1-on-1 and the game's on the line. I think a lot of guys like to thrive in that situation and I like it a lot.