Throughout training camp, we’ve been posting daily quotes from Kings coach Todd McLellan. Additionally, we’ve posted the following player-related articles:
Kings Training Camp, Day Two – Olli Maatta Quotes
Doughty and Maatta Bromance Could Pay Dividends for Kings
Kings Training Camp, Day Three – Lias Andersson Quotes
Kings Training Camp: Jeff Carter – We Feel We’re a Playoff Team
Kings Training Camp: Quotes from Andreas Athanasiou
With the team scheduling today off for rest, prior to making their final push toward opening night on Thursday, we thought it would be a good time to clear out the notebook and take a look at some of the other things said in camp…
Anze Kopitar on the second year with McLellan as coach – “We played 70 games last year, and Todd was on us the whole time to do things right and do them within the system. Coming here now, it’s a lot easier than coming last year to training camp. Even though we’re going to have a 14-day camp, it’s still going to be easier to just refresh and remind than teaching us the whole deal. It’s going to be easier, but we’ve got to put in the work to make sure that we’re on top of things and keep trying to get better.”
His poise with the puck… We're going to need him this season… His stick handling, skill, high hockey IQ, that will put him in a position where he can be successful. – Kopitar on what he saw from Vilardi in those final 10 games last season
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) December 31, 2020
Kopitar on the new schedule – Division games were always huge. This puts even more emphasis on that. Right here, right now, everything counts. It's going to be tight.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) December 31, 2020
Kopitar on who he has seen step up recently – Matt Roy stepped up last year. Kempe had a good year. Now it's about doing it on a consistent basis. We're comfortable with our secondary leadership. With their growth, we'll become a better team.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) December 31, 2020
Dustin Brown on the extended time off – “I think it’s a great opportunity for everybody here. We’ve had a lot of time off, a lot of unstructured time and there’s guys that have probably taken advantage of that across the board. So there’s probably some opportunities for guys who have put in the work over the last 7 – 8 months. It really just depends on how you spent these last months. … The balancing act was trying not to burn out, honestly. In a normal year, you have 3 – 5 months off, depending on your program, and you can’t maintain that for nine months, so we had to build in some rest weeks and some active recovery weeks. It was probably harder mentally than physically, with the uncertainty of everything. … I can only speak for myself, and I think it comes down to, ‘You have nine months, how do you use it?’ For me, it’s been very helpful, giving my body a bit more rest than I’ve ever had. At one point, it was the longest time in my life I haven’t had skates on my feet, so I think if you took advantage of it and used it properly.”
That stretch against the Ducks will be like a little playoff series… And the travel schedule seems to be a lot better for us, because we're staying in the cities for multiple days. Less flights, etc. – Dustin Brown on the upcoming season
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) December 31, 2020
The first few days to me have always been about getting used to your body. You do all the training and the skating in the offseason, and in the first 15 minutes when a guy leans on you, you can't breathe. – Brown on camp
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) December 31, 2020
Adrian Kempe on playing wing or center this season – I think I ended the season pretty well on the wing last year, and that’s what I’m thinking right now. In practice, it looks like I’m gonna start there. You never know how things are going to go. I can always play center if they need me to, as well. It’s not that big of a deal. From last year, I really like playing wing. I think I can use my speed more and create more chances than I did as a center. I think it’s a good asset to be able to play both positions, for sure.
Matt Roy on his new beard – “I’m just trying it out. Not sure if it’s working or not, but I figure I had nothing else to do.”
Matt Roy on playing w/ @MacDerm23 – I love playing with Dermy. People think of him as just a tough guy, which he definitely is. But he makes a lot of really good, simple plays out there and a lot of times they go unnoticed. As a D-core, we notice them. It's fun to play with him.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 1, 2021
Alex Iafallo on his focus for this coming season – “I feel like this year coming up, I need to shoot more, keep getting better in the offensive zone, while staying consistent in all three zones. I’m working on quick shots from the slot and being more offensive. … I’m trying to get a quick release from really anywhere in the zone. Hopefully it pays off.”
Blake Lizotte – “I’m just as hungry as I was last year to start playing games and prove to people that I belong here. I don’t think I’ve lost that chip on my shoulder at all.”
Lizotte on areas he worked to improve on during the offseason – “I think as a young guy, it was real important for me to make a big stride with the extra time off to train. At my age, it’s really important to to utilize summer training. I think, for me, it was about getting stronger. That’s a huge part of my game that needed work, especially defensively. I think I did a good job to become stronger over the summer. And. obviously. speed is always important in this game. Anytime I can get a little faster and stronger is good; hopefully I accomplished that this summer.”
Lizotte on what he’s learned playing on a line with Jeff Carter – “You’re always learning around him. The guy is just full of wisdom with how much he’s been around the league and the places he’s been, the Cups he’s won. He’s just full of knowledge. I think every day when I come to the rink, I’m just like a sponge still. I’m smoking up everything. His practice habits are so good. He’s plays intense, whether it’s the first day of training camp or late in March and April, when the season’s winding down. His practice habits are always at a high level and that’s something that I strive to be like because it’s it’s super important. He knows how to build a winning team and a winning environment and I think he’s a huge part of that here in LA.”
Some @SeanWalk2 to start your day… pic.twitter.com/pk9pK8tsxG
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 8, 2021
Martin Frk on training in the offseason and spending time with a few teammates back in Vancouver and Calgary – “After then season, I spent some time in LA, but for something different, I went up to Calgary and continued my training there. Plus, I was going on the ice with a lot of the Kings players too, so it was kind of nice to see them, skate with them, and hang out with them. With the covid situation, it was a little bit tougher just because you don’t want to hang out as much, you want to be careful. We did a couple of things with [Brett] Sutter. He had us over for some wine tasting, that was actually pretty fun. Then with [Kale] Clague, we went to the lake house in BC, as well. We spent a couple days together there. Overall, with the long offseason, it was a nice to spend more time training and with the family. Everyone was itching to get back and start training camp and start the season.”
More from Frk on the wine tasting – “Each player had to bring two bottles of wine. We had to just cover it with a paper bag, so we didn’t know what kind of wine it was or who brought it. We were just tasting it until all the bottles were pretty much empty. I had the end we decided who the winner was. … I think the winner was Austin Strand. He had the best wine and a lot of people agreed on that, that was a really good wine.”
Gabe Vilardi on if he connected with anybody outside the organization during the offseason, just to get more advice about what to expect coming into this season – “I didn’t, unfortunately. I wish it was a normal year. If it was, I’d work with my agent and get stuff like that through other guys that are with the same agency. This year, with things being a little different, it just didn’t happen. I was here, though, I moved here in late August because there wasn’t much going on back home in Kingston, not much ice available and training available there. I’ve been working with the guys here for several months now and I mean, I’m still working with [Criag Johnson] and [Jarret Stoll] all the time.”
Vilardi on the permanent smile he’s had on his face all week during camp – I appreciate you saying that, John. I try and be a happy guy all the time, but it’s very dependent – sometimes, I’m too up and sometimes I have to stay more focused. I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Sometimes I’m too giggly when I come to the rink. Other days, I’m too serious. So I’m gonna try and keep it even keel. Thanks for saying that, though. I am pretty happy.
Vilardi on watching the World Juniors the past few weeks – “There were some good games. I thought our guys looked good. Turcotte looked good, he was playing very hard the whole tournament. I watched most of the games. Unfortunately for Canada, they couldn’t win. I know more people on the U.S. team, so I don’t want to say I was cheering for the U.S., but I was just watching as a fan kind of thing. Obviously CJ’s kid [Ryan Johnson] was on the U.S. team, so I was happy for CJ.
Vilardi on his weight – I’m happy with my playing weight right now. It’s been kind of up and down the last two months here. I gained a lot of weight when I first got here, but right now I’m happy with the progress I made, in terms of muscle. I think I’m a little thicker than last year, for sure. The biggest thing for me, I wasn’t worried about gaining a bunch of weight. I wanted to get my legs a little thicker and stronger, just for battles in the corner and stuff like that. The biggest thing for me was the conditioning and focusing on that. Just having a summer to actually train, that’s the biggest thing that helped with my conditioning. I can feel it on the ice. I’m not huffing and puffing after a 20 second drill kind of thing. I’m good to go and I can feel the difference. In terms of my playing weight, it will stay within 10 pounds. I’ll go up and down a little bit here and there, but I like my weight right now. … I’m about 215 to 220, in that area.”
Jonathan Quick on the lack of exhibition games – “Even in a normal year, you play preseason games and that first game feels fast. I think everyone, all 31 teams, they’re going to feel that a little bit. I think the way we’ve broken down camp so far, getting into scrimmages right away and trying to get you making those game decisions, and realizing you don’t have as much time as you do in the summer skates. Hammering that home right away is sending a message to everyone in the locker room that we’ve got to get ready here.”
For those who would like some intermission fun…
(s/t to my sound engineer @SpikeC20 for putting this together from today's Q&A) pic.twitter.com/1GBQsRNiB6
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 3, 2021
Cal Petersen on what his role will be this year – “I think every year that I came in, regardless of where I was realistically on the depth chart, I think I tried to put my best foot forward and gun it to make the NHL team. At least, make it as far as I can where people have a tough decision in sending me down. It’s obviously a little bit different coming into this year, but for me, the mentality stays the same and I just want to continue to prove that I can play at this level.”
Carl Grundstrom on his teammates calling him Tonka – “I think it was Dermy who started calling me that late last year, or something like that. It seems to have stuck now. … I like to play hard and tough, and be a bit tough on the forecheck and win pucks for our team.”
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