What will Sutter say? Thursday’s best and it is about practice!

The always quotable Darryl Sutter was back at it again today following the Kings’ one-hour practice at TSC. Here were the 10 best things he had to say…

– On who he’ll start in goal vs. Columbus: “No answer. You know the program – I don’t say the day before, the day of or until…I just don’t feel comfortable doing that. For lack of a better answer, St. Louis announced Halak was playing the other night. That’s what we assumed too. So did they?”

– More on not naming a starting goaltender: “It doesn’t really serve much purpose publicly. It’s not like you have a rotation. Lots of things happen. In more of a roundabout way, we want to be a playoff team. We need a goalie to get hot, not get patted on the back.”

– On using Quick vs. Bernier: “This team rode a hot goalie last year, right? They didn’t the year before. We rode a hot goalie last year. So, you know what? We’re in the same thing again. We need one to get hot.”

– On if he tells the goaltenders when they’ll be playing: “Sometimes. Obviously, tomorrow morning they’ll know. But when we’re on the road or depending on how late your travel is, generally we let them know.”

– On Alec Martinez being on 7-day IR: “He wants to travel with us now. But, he won’t.”

– On Jake Muzzin going back into the line-up vs. Columbus: “He’s got to get his foot on the right pedal if he wants to play again. He’s going to play tomorrow and he better have it on the right pedal or somebody else will get the chance. That’s not being harsh or anything. That’s just exactly what it takes to be a defenseman.”

– On the competition among defensemen: “We’re playing four guys that basically have zero experience. They should try and beat each other out of the position. Competition is a good thing.”

– More on guys competing for playing time: “When you ask about why this guy’s playing or this guy’s not, or whatever – you’ve got to get better. We want to try and be in the playoff race, not trying to watch it.”

– On this week’s practice sessions: “March (has) just about zero practice. We have 17 games, I believe, in March. You’ve got very little practice. So, you have to take advantage of these days. It doesn’t mean that it impacts tomorrow, but it’s got to impact the big picture. Certainly with some of these young guys – not some of them, most of them – it’s about practice.”

[ed. note – UH OH! See below for Allen Iverson’s thoughts on practice]

– On any differences he saw in Keaton Ellerby from game one to game two: “The ability to move pucks. It was pretty consistent in both games. It’s the strength of his game, and it has to be really consistent. He’s a big, mobile guy and he’s going to be on the puck a lot. So, being able to make the good play is what we want him to do. That’d be number one.”

Still more to come from practice in the next few hours.

If you missed it earlier though, the line combinations and some injury updates were posted here.

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