'Passion and character' defined Oilers' Smyth
/The definitive quote on Ryan Smyth from Oilers GM and friend Craig MacTavish at Friday's retirement press conference:
"My assessment of players," began MacTavish, "is you have a certain amount of skill set and then you have your character and your character is what allows you to get the most out of your skill set.
"You know, Ryan wasn't the fastest guy around, or the most glamorous of players, but the thing that he had that was well above virtually everybody else that played the game was tremendous passion and character.
"I think that's what really enabled him to get absolutely every ounce out of his skill set and have the type of career that he had."