"Whenever we played Pittsburgh, you were almost thinking, 'I hope he's really not that interested in playing tonight' because you knew, when he did decide to play, he was unstoppable. And when he was just okay, he was the best player in the league."
"My two most important games in my career were my first game against Mario and my first game against Wayne Gretzky."
"I said to my parents one day, `I want to try skating.'" I was just drawn to watching the Penguin games and watching him play. I probably would have been a baseball or football player because I had been playing baseball since age 3. But when I started watching Mario, that's what made me want to try hockey."
"How many more points would he have had if he stayed reasonably healthy? Four hundred? Five hundred? Six hundred? We'll never know. No disrespect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr, Gilbert Perreault ... but Mario did things nobody else could ever do."
"We were struggling and (general manager) Craig Patrick told me 'Mario wants to talk to you.' I had nobody to play with. I told Mario, 'We need a centerman.' He told me, 'I might have one for you.' I said, 'Who is it?' And he said, 'He's pretty good.'"
"He's done so much for the city and is very proud of the city. He's done everything he could to keep this franchise going and his presence alone has brought a lot of pride to the city and the Penguins organization. Mario has just been a tremendous ambassador for hockey in what he's done for the city of Pittsburgh and the grace with which he played the game. He's just a magician on the ice."
"They were in their prime and I was just a young guy (of) 22 learning the game. Being in the Canada Cup and playing with Gretzky gave me a lot of confidence going back and playing in Pittsburgh. It gave me an opportunity to start my career and really learn what it meant to be a champion and the best in the game."
"All I can say to the young players is, enjoy every moment of it. Just enjoy every moment of it. Your career goes by very quickly."
