Jon Cooper speaks:

The attitude on day one: "Enthusiasm is a great word. You can tell everybody has a little jump in their step. New coaching staff, veterans are invigorated because this is a new era I suppose. And there's a crop of young talent that the organization hasn't seen in quite some time".

On the availability of roster spots: "I think this will be as competitive camp as this organization has seen in some time."

On building versus rebuilding: "I don't like the word 'rebuilding'. Professional sports is a business. If you finish in the bottom half of the standings, you're rebuilding. If you finish in the top half, you're reloading. It all kind of means the same thing; everybody has the same common goal. I can't sit here and say we're rebuilding. We've already built from the ground up. We had a minor league team that had never made the playoffs in their affiliation with the Lightning. Now not only are they making the playoffs on a regular basis, they're making the Calder Cup finals on a regular basis. You have to have prospects to do that. We're able to make trades now. For instance, we give up a bright young prospect in Cory Conacher to pick up a bright young prospect to fill a need in Ben Bishop. Is that rebuilding? I don't know. Maybe it's just building."

"My message to the guys coming in, the rookies, is relax," Cooper said. "You have a chance, but we want you to put your best foot forward. We don't want to have excited energy. We want calm, focused, driven players."

"It's unacceptable where we're at," Cooper said of last season's 28th place finish. "As an organization we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that's the last time we're in that position in the standings.

"It's not a threat, but that's where we're at."