I was able to catch up with O'Neill (pictured above, Hockey East Online) this afternoon and discuss with him his feelings about being drafted, playing at Maine, and the dreaded treadmill test.
What have you been up to this off-season?
I've just been working out every day with my brother at the Salem State College gym. We train together every summer. We do a program from my strength coach at school, Terry O'Neill. Along with working out it's been a pretty relaxing summer gearing up for next season. A lot of working out, relaxing, and laying low pretty much.
What were your first thoughts when the Thrashers drafted you in 2006?
I was just really happy. I was extremely proud to be drafted in the first place. For every mile my parents drove me, for every ounce of energy I put into playing hockey, I felt a sense of accomplishment at that point. I was extremely proud to be selected by the Atlanta Thrashers because I know about the tradition and the program that it's going to be some day. I want to do everything I can to be a part of that.
For the fans from Atlanta that don't get the chance to see you play a lot, tell us a little bit about your game.
I consider myself a puck-moving defenseman. I like to head-man the puck and give it to the forwards in a position where they can attack the net. I like to shoot the puck and play phyiscally. Most of all, I just like to head-man the puck and move it as fast as I can.
Since you were drafted, what areas of your game do you think you've improved on the most and what you want to improve on?
Since '06 I've really, really worked on getting my body in a position where it can be an asset at this level. I think since then I've learned a lot, been through a lot, and my body has surely been through a lot and since then I think that has been the biggest adjustment to my game; that my body can be at a position to play at a high level and that I can play a certain amount of minutes each game. I also think that my skating has gotten a lot better, assertiveness has gotten a lot better, and my defensive play has gotten a lot better and I think that everything that has ever been an asset of mine has gotten better and everything that has ever been an asset of mine has gotten to a point where I can start to build off it.
Tell us about your overall experience at the University of Maine?
I actually can't speak enough about the experience at Maine. It's been the best years of my life. I've met my best friends up there, my wonderful girlfriend that I met at U-Maine, and it's just been the two best years of my life. It's such an honor each day to be able to go that school and to be able to call that rink mine, to just take everything in each day. I just can't thank the coaching staff enough for giving me the opportunity to be here and anyone along the way that's helped me because it's a heck of a place and I'm proud of it.
Talk to us about prospect camp and what it was like coming in as an older player?
This year in particular I was one of the older guys at camp, so I had done it before. That doesn't always make a difference because you do it to get better each year and to improve yourself. It's tough every year. It's what you put into it that you're going to get out of it. It doesn't matter the age; if you put the veteran NHLers at camp they're still going to get a lot out of it too just because of how grueling the schedule is and the things that you do in the weight room and on the ice. In terms of individual skill work it's really been beneficial to anybody, but for me in particular I had a good camp and learned a lot. You try to learn as much as you can every year and I think as you get older you start to realize, you start to soak in a little bit more how big of a deal it really is and how you can't take it for granted and that all the younger guys are working just as hard as you and you've got to work harder to beat them to where you want to be.
Who stood out the most at prospect camp?
There were a lot of good players, maybe even more talent or maybe even pro-ready, if that's what you call it, maybe more than there have ever been. This year was a really strong camp, defense and forwards, especially some of the guys up front who were terrific. I thought Burmistrov was terrific. I thought Klingberg, Albert, Lasu, Paquette; I mean, I don't want to leave anybody out because I feel bad. Everybody was really, really good, maybe more than past years.
How was the treadmill test?
That wasn't something that I was looking forward to, but it was okay. It was tough, but I guess it was a necessary thing because they wanted to see where everyone was physically. That's the test they do, so that's the test we had to run.
What are your plans for the upcoming season?
Going back to Maine, obviously, where we're going to have a really strong team. We have a lot of returners, I'd say about 95% of the team is coming back. We should have a heck of a team. We're returning the runner up for the Hobey Baker in Gustav Nyquist, who lead the country in points. We have a veteran "D" core and a lot more depth up front that I didn't mention in names. We have a really solid team with great chemistry and really good people. We're all really excited to get going and make something happen this year.
