Salvis Quotes

As promised, here are Coach Ruskowski's quotes about Ryan Salvis from yesterday's re-signing:

"He's a good skater, handles the puck well. Considering it was his rookie season and he was dealing with a sore shoulder, he did a remarkable job. He came in here as an unknown kid and did a really good job, and we'll be looking for even better numbers from him this season. He's very coachable, and I could tell he wanted to get better. It's a pleasure for a coach to work with someone like that."

"I know he improved his skating, but there are a couple of areas I hope he'll get better in. For one, I'd like to see him do more to finish the play. I'd also like to see him be a bit more physical, a more dominating player in the corners. I think I saw those characteristics in him at times; we just need to tap into that and continue it consistently. He knows what he's doing, and if he catches on to the systems even more, he'll be doing a pretty good job."

"I hope he comes up and takes charge. I like the way he carries and conducts himself on and off the ice, and I think he can be a plyer other guys look up to."

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One key fact about Salvis is that sore shoulder Ruskowski mentioned, which the team is hoping will not hamper his play this year after getting him surgery on it before he left Laredo in the spring.

In addition to improving his ability to finish the play and be more physical, Salvis will be expected to do better in the faceoff circle, one area where his shoulder problems really hurt last season.

That should about do it as far as Salvis goes, but there will be another signing announcement tomorrow and preseason schedules are expected to be released next week.