All members of the Kings participated in today’s practice, which went about 30 minutes. There weren’t any set line combinations, as the forwards wore purple and the defensemen wore yellow. After things were over coach Darryl Sutter shared the following thoughts…
– On mental fortitude coming into play this year: “I think so. We’ve talked about that a lot – parts of ‘parking and riding.’ So, that’s what you do.”
– On there not being much of a difference between teams in the playoff hunt: “I think the Los Angeles Kings proved that last year. Chicago and Anaheim are on great rolls, right? So, if I wasn’t coaching in Los Angeles, I’d give them…there’d be an asterisk in the record book this year, and Chicago is going to get points in 64 straight games. It’d be a record, an all time record.”
– On the meaning of the word ‘momentum’ in a shortened season: “I don’t know…Shift-to-shift, period-to-period. I don’t really think there’s any momentum. It goes right back to what we were just talking about it – there’s not enough difference in teams. It’s just a fine line. That’s why I don’t think momentum is anything. You move on in a hurry, always. If you don’t, then you’re not a very strong person or a strong group.”
– On Mike Richards’ consistency: “I think he’s probably gotten better the last seven or eight games. I think the line struggled last night. But, from a point production thing he’s fine. I think that he struggled early, and he has been better lately.”
– On separating being a father from being a coach when watching his son Brett play (who was just called up by Carolina): “I’ve been a father his whole life, and I’ve been a coach his whole life. So, you get used to it.”
– On if he’s more of a father or a coach when watching Brett play: “He’s my son. Do you have a son? (yes) So you know what that feels like.”
– On the Kings’ troubles beating Nashville’s defense: “They make you really work for any offensive production you get. Their team has not changed, Barry Trotz has been the coach since day one. And if you look at their team, obviously personnel has changed over those years, but one thing that doesn’t change is how they play. And it’s always been a team that has great goaltending. As long as they have great goaltending, they’re a tough team to play against because you don’t get much. If you look what’s going on again, that’s what the best teams are. I’ve said it a hundred times, right? Not a hundred – every day a hundred times. If you don’t give up much, you have a chance to win every night.”
– On how to penetrate their defense: “Just be better than we were last game. We did beat them once, do you remember? (well not this year) No? Then don’t ask.”
– On if he’s surprised that the Predators don’t seem to have missed a beat since the loss of Ryan Suter: “I just answered it, right? With the type of the team that they have – they bring in Scotty Hannan, a veteran guy; Gill’s been hurt, he’s a veteran guy; Shea piles on; Moore is better. And they have Rinne, who is probably a top-five (goalie) right now, right? So they’ve moved on in a hurry. As soon as Suter left, I stay on top of it. I covered it every day in the summer. So, when Ryan Suter signed in Minnesota, the first thing Barry said was, he talked about Roman Josi being the next Ryan Suter. And look at the minutes he’s playing and what he’s doing…They’re strong down the middle. I tell you what, that’s the best, when you’re strong down the middle. They have big guys that are good face off guys, and that means possession guys. That’s what they are. You have to fight for every inch against them.”
– On specific things he wanted to work on in practice today: “You know what? Some of our guys weren’t at the pace we needed them to be last night. You just want to make sure you reinforce the pace that they have to play at. In terms of moving pucks, getting to pucks, and that sort of thing.”
RELATED CONTENT: Sutter takes on the Canucks in a game or Word Association
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
Huh?
I mean, “Huh? WTF?”
I mean, “huh??”
Did you mean to call this: “Wait. What did Sutter just say?”