"I'm looking at him being a really good mentor to our young guys," Verbeek stated at training camp on Friday. "We can kind of plop him with some our offensive defensemen, and he'll be kind of the steady stay-at-home guy. I hear nothing but great things about his character, the person he is, and I think he's going to be awesome for our young guys."
"He's such a dynamic skater and can make a play out of nothing," Dumoulin said of playing with Zellweger. "He's a fun player to watch, and it's been good just to communicate with him and talk with him and read, playing with him, what type of partner he is."
"He's playing his off-side, so I just wanted to let him know that if he ever gets stuck on the left, that I'm fine on the right," Dumoulin continued. "It's just constant communication to feel each other out. If I'm going to go D-to-D with him, whether he likes it on his forehand or on his backhand. It's just these little game situations that once you get into the game, you look good because it comes easy."
Dumoulin expresses the importance of communication and connecting with the individuals in the locker room as people as much as players, a similar sentiment head coach Greg Cronin greatly values.
"He just demonstrates professionalism when you talk to him," Cronin said of Dumoulin on Thursday. "Somebody like him who's won two (Stanley) Cups and is so excited to contribute here, it's really nice to hear."
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