Capuano feature: DVD Extras

Well, 35 inches seems like a lot until you talk to seven or eight people and have all kinds of stuff sitting on the cutting-room floor. Here's some of the the deleted scenes:

--I asked everyone for a Cappy story. Only one person said "nothing printable." (And he was kidding.) Howard Saffan had two, the one that was in there and this one: "He's the most superstitious person I've ever met in my life, to the point of which everything must be the same as the prior night if they won, everything, you name it. The time he drinks his coffee, if he's wearing a headset or if he's not wearing a headset, if he's wearing a certain tie, everything."

--He studied business and physical education at Maine before leaving with a year and change to go for his degree.

--I had a whole section planned about his influences. Then I realized 35 inches wasn't as long as I thought. Here's the raw material of that section:

From Cranston East, where he played for Rhode Island legend Dick Ernst, Capuano went to Kent when he was 15, playing hockey under Tom Army as well as football and baseball. He played three years at Maine under the late Shawn Walsh and assistant coach Jay Leach before turning pro.

Walsh and Leach:
"You watch and learn their focus, their intensity, their preparation, strength and conditioning, every little element they give you to try to become a better player," Capuano said.

"You hear guys that say a team plays with the personality of its coach," Capuano said, "but a lot of coaches didn't play. You always take a little bit of everyone you have. The communication factor."

"Over the years, the way I played as an offensive defenseman: Do I want all my defensemen to jump up in the play? I think D jumping up into the play is something you'll see from our team," Capuano said. "I think sometimes it's a (defensive) deficiency of a forward, he loses the responsibility of his player. That's the way I played. I do want to see that. We'll see our D jump up. We've got some good young prospects, (Drew) Fata, (Dustin) Kohn I think will be here next year, Jamie Fraser.

"The new NHL, the way it is now, there's a lot of four-man attacks," Capuano said. "That's my philosophy. I don't want to take away from our defense, but the best defense gives good offense as well."

--On the "change" at New Year's: "Anybody who knows me (knows) I just try to come to work every day and do the best job I can do," Capuano said. "They asked me to change a little bit of the roles and responsibilities, to change the voice a little bit. Danny took over the (defense and penalty killing), I took over the power play. It was a job they asked us to do, and we did it."

--A bit more from Snow on the choice: "He's been successful wherever he's been, as a coach or a GM. He's earned his stripes," Snow said. "I know the first half of the season, when he was predominately working with the penalty kill, it was No. 1 in the league, so he did a great job there. ... He's a perfect fit to help us develop players to come up and be Islanders."

--"The one thing about this profession, obviously, is to have a very supportive family, especially wife," Capuano said. "She's been a champ. She understands my love of the game, my love to teach and be around the sport of hockey. Without her, I don't even know if I'd be sitting here today."

--He was continually thankful to Wang, Milbury, Stirling, Snow, Saffan, for all the chances he's received the past two years with the Islanders organization.

--Wednesday, Capuano and Bernie Cassell were in Providence to watch the Bruins play Manchester. Thursday, he was looking for a place to watch the Ottawa-Buffalo game.

"If he's not at the rink working, he's sitting there watching a game at night, picking up the X's and O's of each team in the NHL," Cassell said.

--On being a GM in the Coast: "Any time, it's people skills and communication," Capuano said. "A lot of times you're dealing with agents, with players maybe in a little different capacity. You're even dealing with your staff. ... It's something I wanted to do to diversify myself. If I had to go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything."

--A bit more from Steve Stirling on Capuano's early days on the Island: "First and foremost, I'm thrilled for him," Stirling said. "He's a quality individual and a good young coach with a bright future ahead of him. ...

"Behind closed doors, with the coaching staff, he felt a little behind. He shouldn't have," Stirling said. "I think he felt, 'I'll be respectful.'

"Finally at Christmastime I pulled him aside and said, Cappy, it's been three months, and you have too much to offer. He proved to everyone he had something to offer."