This is your second consecutive chance to represent Germany at the World Championship. What does this mean to you?

Rieder: It is always an honour to play for your country. We had a coaching change and lots of new players I hadn’t played with before. I think we have a good group so I’m really excited about this tournament. We wtill have  lot of hockey to play.

With new coach Marco Sturm behind the bench, how much do you think this improves the team?

He has the knowledge as a former player that helps him to relate to the team. It is great having him on the boards and on the ice with us in practice. He can teach us so many things and I am already learning a lot. Everybody wants to make him proud. It is really exciting having him behind the bench.

You had a good year with the Arizona Coyotes, including scoring 14 goals. What was the reason for your success?

It all comes back to hard work. I’m the type of player that has to work hard every shift. I think I did that this year. We had a good young group there in Arizona. There's lots of excitement in the organization. I think overall we did well and will get better in the years to come.

It would seem that Arizona has a lot of potential with you, Max Domi, Anthony DuClair and others in the lineup.

We have a good mixture of veteran players and young players. That gave us the right amount of energy. It is now all about growing and everyone getting to know the league a little bit more. I think we will have a good team in a few years. You can see there's a lot of potential in the lineup.

Have you been in touch with Max Domi yet?

No, I haven’t been in touch with him since he’s been here. We've been pretty focused on our goals and I'm sure the same is the case for Max and Team Canada.

Recently, John Chayka was named general manager of the Coyotes. What do you think of the move?

He was our assistant general manager last year. He’s a great guy and I’m really happy for him. 

He’s 26 years old. Do you think that will make a difference in any way?

It is a young age to be a general manager but he’s such a smart guy and he knows what he’s doing. You could say we are having a youth movement in our organization everywhere and I’m really excited about it. It should be really great. There is so much to look forward to and I hope to be a part of it.