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The feeling being back in Montreal, it will never change. Montreal's going to be home because of the relationships that I've built here.
The simplest, most impactful question that you can ask an athlete, or ask anyone, is 'What do you want to accomplish? What's your goal?'
You have to remember that when you're in the NHL, you have the platform, and you'll never have a bigger platform than when you're playing.
A Hall of Famer isn't just the guy who put up great numbers. It's the guy who has changed the sport for the better, who has had an impact.
I don't think your focus as a hockey player or athlete can be anywhere else but how you want to impact the team on the ice or on the field or court.
The notion is tough guys challenge the bench and skill players never do. I'm considered a skilled player, but I don't carry myself like a skilled player.
Playing in Montreal for six years, being drafted in 2007, a lot of great moments in that organization. The positive moments outweigh the negative moments.
Hockey's filled with great people, and it's a great sport, and I encourage a lot of people to play it because of the relationships that you make in hockey.
Growing up, watching the New Jersey Devils, I watched players like Ken Daneyko, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, old school players who respected the game.
In this world, there are bad people and there are good people. We can either choose to celebrate the bad ones all the time, or we can celebrate the good ones.
If someone wants to call me a Harlem Globetrotter, well, great, go ahead. I was very good at basketball. I was a really good point guard. I was the best passer.
When young players come into the league, they see how pop culture has affected the other sports, like the NBA and the NFL. They come in with more of an open mind.
This is a game that at the end of the day, it's sports entertainment. We have to perform to keep fans in the seats, and what they pay helps put food on our tables.
I'm very privileged to have great parents, caring parents, parents that dedicate a lot of their time and energy to their children, and we're very thankful for that.
There's a lot of kids that don't even have a chance to live a balanced lifestyle. Not have to worry about food or clothes or education, or being able to play sports.
One of the things that upset me a lot, and I'm pretty open about it is people that challenge my character or challenge my commitment to my job or the game that I play.
I love Montreal. I've always loved the city. And when it really comes down to it I never envisioned myself playing for any other team other than the Montreal Canadiens.
What works for me might not work for the next guy. You have to work within yourself and know what's going to provide you with the amount of energy you need to do your job.
It's not a conscious thing for me. But whenever I have the opportunity to bring it, I want to give more than the guy before me. Hockey. Off-ice stuff. Just life in general.
Everybody has to work on themselves, no one is perfect. No one wakes up every morning and, you know, you have to love yourself but you also have to drive yourself from within.
I operate from a place of like water on a duck's back. When things are thrown at me or said to me that aren't worth my time, they don't register with me. Like it just rolls off my back.
I never want a coach to feel like he needs to be my friend, I always want a coach to be the coach and I'm the type of guy that wants to be held accountable all the time, so I respect coaches.
We're very lucky. We've been blessed with a platform, and what you can do with that platform, you can do a million things with it. I guess I just take pride in using the platform the right way.
I have no control over what the fans do or what the media say. I just do what I can - go out there and play hockey and have a smile on my face when I do it, just try to have a little bit of fun.
The NHL's got tons of players from different backgrounds from different places around the world. That's what makes this league so special and that's what makes sports so special; it brings everybody together.
There's a time and a place when it needs to be all about hockey. I don't think that's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How you choose to spend that time when it's not all about hockey is completely up to you.
It was a dream come true for me to play with the Montreal Canadiens, and the sad thing is that my promise to the city of bringing a Stanley Cup back and wanting to win one, I won't be able to fulfill that promise.
In this world, some things happen that we can't completely understand. That's OK; we don't have to understand it. All we have to do is understand our self, believe in our self and keep trying and keep pushing forward.
That's the fun part about your playing career is that everyone knows your first and foremost responsibility, and that's playing hockey, but whenever you can mix in some other things have fun with it, that's great, too.
My mentality is I've never been the guy that always has to be the center of attention or has to be the front guy. I have no problem doing my job and somebody else getting the credit, or the attention being on somebody else.
The first car I purchased was for my father. I bought him a truck. I didn't want to see myself driving around in a nicer car than him. I wanted him to feel like he's accomplished a lot, too, which he has. He's put me in a great position.
It's not good enough just to hold your head high because you're one of the highest-paid players in the NHL. It's not good enough to be one of the most popular guys in the NHL or to have a social media following. What are you trying to accomplish?
This is how I see myself, as a player that at the end of the day, whether I have a letter or not, I know that when we're in overtime or it's a deciding moment in the game my teammates are looking at me to step up. To me that's all I need to know.
Community stuff is always important to me, it's very important to the New Jersey Devils and the organization, so along with not just myself but the rest of the players on the team, it's always a priority to be able to give back in the best way possible.
I have a production company, I have a marketing company, I have different things that I have going on and different interests and there's nothing wrong with having different interests as long as you prioritize the things that you need to do first. And I do.
You look at the best players in the game - Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr - they didn't sit on the couch and then one day join the NHL. They worked on their game. Their talent was perseverance, dedication. Those are talents to me; that's what gets you to the NHL.
For a family to have five kids and to have emigrated from the West Indies, my father from Jamaica and my mother from Montserrat - it's not easy to provide for five kids let alone put three kids in AAA hockey, one being a goalie, and put two daughters through university.
I think that there's more jealousy in sports than racism, really. I think racism exists in the works, but when I faced racism in hockey, a lot of times from jealousy, because when I was young, I was always one of the better players. And I think a lot of people were threatened by that.
I don't ever judge somebody by what comes out of their mouth 'cause I don't know what they're thinking. Sometimes people might just say things just to see how you react about it. People might say things to you just to try to throw you off your game. Doesn't necessarily mean they're a racist.
I think I just want to focus on being the best player that I can be and being the best role model that I can be by just doing all the right things, not just for black kids or kids from different backgrounds, but for all kids who play the game. You want them to look at you in a positive light.
Nobody is in their right to tell anybody how to spend their free time. If you like to spend it with your family or your kids, fantastic. If you want to spend it with your girlfriend, great. If you want to spend it doing charitable work, great. If you want to spend it through endorsements and marketing stuff, great.