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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v COYOTESMay 17, 2012Darryl SutterLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Sutter. Q. Your thoughts on the one‑game suspension for Hanzal? COACH SUTTER: Well, obviously that's what the league valued it as. Thankful Brownie didn't get hurt. Q. Drew said he felt he elevated his game a lot, particularly defensively. Is that the way you see it, as well? COACH SUTTER: He's a high‑plus player, which means he's on the ice for a lot of our goals, which means he's moving the puck well, not playing in his own zone. That's something we've tried to get him to do a lot of, is be good in his own zone so he's not spending as much time there. When he plays, Slava does that, too, have to play against top guys all the time. That's a big challenge for him. They're doing a good job. Q. When he came to the team to where he's playing now, have you noticed an improvement? COACH SUTTER: Yeah, that's not really how I look at it. I like him to use his ability instead of not using it, meaning defending. His ability is moving puck and skating, gaining zones, skating by guys. When he does that, then it's less time spent in his own zone. That's the biggest part for me. I think a lot of times young guys break it out where they're talking about defense and offense, and it's really sort of unfair to kids like that because their gift, their skill, that's something they're going to learn, the defensive part as they go on. Most of it is experience with guys that have that high‑end skill. Q. You had 2‑0 in the other previous series. Why such success? COACH SUTTER: The biggest thing, and I heard John Terrell (phonetic) say it, he's dead on, You have to keep getting better or you're going to get beat. It's going to happen. When you have kids that go in and out and it gets overshadowed when you won a game, then you got a problem. That's why I wasn't crazy about our last game because I thought we had guys that didn't play very well and they're going to have to play a helluva lot better for us to match up against those guys tonight. Q. What do you know about Dustin Brown since he's been here? COACH SUTTER: I haven't learned nothing other than I met his family and his in‑laws, pretty familiar with what kind of player he is. I've said it one thousand and one times now, right, what his identity is, and it's pretty clear. Q. Back to Drew. How much of that was mental, what he had to do? You talk about the skills that he has. How much of it was just more mental preparation, understanding what's expected of him? COACH SUTTER: Every day. How much is mental? Every day it is with him, right? It's preparing to win, not just preparing to play. He's no different than every other young player, no different. Q. Fraser back? COACH SUTTER: No, Fras is not back with the team yet. Get in later today. But he hasn't skated for, what, three days. Q. When you talk about preparation, Drew, no different for any other young player, what specifically are you talking about? COACH SUTTER: That the biggest part of the game is mental. With most players, that's what it is. Everybody that's played or been around it, you know you just don't come and play, you have to prepare for that. When you're a playoff team, that even makes it more important. I mean, it's based on a game‑to‑game basis, not anything other than that. That's the tough part for all young players. Q. Just what is in his head, what he's thinking about? COACH SUTTER: The biggest thing is he plays a big role on their team. There's not much room for deviation. So it's preparing for that because he's a big part of the five‑on‑five, he's a big part of the power play, he's a big part of penalty killing. I haven't looked at it, but he probably plays as many minutes as any defenseman that is playing, along with them kids in New York, Yandle. You know, you've got to be well‑rounded in all that. You're not a specialist in one area, you have to be able to see yourself in all those situations. When he does that, he's pretty good. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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