Connor Bedard shares insights of preparations ahead of season opener against the Florida Panthers

"I think the biggest thing he mentioned was just how they swarm pucks. You've seen in our camp, a lot of skating, a lot of getting on the guys, playing with speed, playing hard, and Florida's kind of the epitome of that, I'd say."

"You don't need to have the No. 1 lineup in the League to work hard, and I think that's just the biggest thing, hounding pucks and getting on guys."

"What are those things? Florida does a really good job of tracking back and reloading hard, and they don't wait for offense and hope the [defense] turns the puck over. They're a five-man connected unit, and those are things we want to be. Those are things that I value."

"I think you hear it so much, like you only have the puck on your stick for, in a good game, a minute. So, you have however many minutes you're not playing [with the puck], and to be in the right spots, to go get it or make a play defensively or offensively, that's something that I can improve on, and you see the best teams do."

"Those guys were our age at one point and the worst team in the League for a while. So, they were looking at Pittsburgh, Chicago: the teams that were good at the time, and trying to reach that, and eventually they did. Everyone starts in that spot, and I'm pretty confident that we're going to get there."