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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v BLACKHAWKSJune 4, 2013Michal HandzusMarcus KrugerLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Michal, you mentioned a little while ago it's been a while since you won a playoff series. Do you find yourself revitalized by this? MICHAL HANDZUS: Well, obviously it's fun to play this deep, that's for sure. But you don't really think about that, about yourself, you know. You think about trying to get a win every game. You don't think about your success, you think about the team's success. That's what we all trying to do. Q. Over the past five games, you played (indiscernible). Did you think that was a possibility? MICHAL HANDZUS: I don't think so. I don't think anybody thought I going to be play top six. Just I came to the team that was winning before I came here. They play great whole season. I just try to fit in, try not to disrupt anything because they were playing great. I just try to play anywhere. I don't care if I'm playing on the fourth line or second line. It's all about the team right now, winning. It's not about individual goals any more. Q. Marcus is one of the younger players. Have you picked his brain a little bit in terms of what you might be able to learn from him through observation or discussion? Michal, can you talk about your evaluation of Marcus, how he's come along? MARCUS KRUGER: Yeah, if I start, Michal is great to learn from. You can look at him, how professional he is, everything he does. That's something I can learn from him. Yeah, he's been great for us so far. MICHAL HANDZUS: Well, same thing. Doesn't matter where he plays, he helps. When I got here playing second line, it was great. I thought he played power‑play a little bit. I'm kind of player like him, too. Doesn't matter where you play, you try to help the team. You don't complain, you play. You make your mark for your team. That's what he does every time, every shift. Q. (Question regarding the deadline and the Sharks.) MICHAL HANDZUS: You know, when you do those decisions, you don't know how is going to end up. Chicago, they play great all season. That's one thing. They had a great team. The thing was I wasn't sure where I going to fit in. Like I said, I knew the coaches, I knew the players, I knew the city, I was familiar with the organization. I thought coming in it would be pretty easy transition for me to fit in, try to help. Obviously, they're a great team, organization. They won before. You don't know how is going to end up. You don't envision you're going to play Conference Finals, anything like that. You try to make the decision that you're comfortable with, then just come in and try to help. Q. Marcus, every time people talk about the Chicago penalty killers now, it's always Kruger and Frolik. How do you feel about that? MARCUS KRUGER: No, yeah, we had an ongoing process this year with the penalty kill. We got a good start and had to build on that. It's always a new game and a new team. You have to be aware all season. You can't relax. You just have to get the job done every night. Q. Michal, Patrick Sharp said yesterday you're really driven here to win. Is that because you feel like this might be your last chance to win the Stanley Cup? MICHAL HANDZUS: Well, you dream all the time. When you get to the playoffs, you driven all the time. You realize you're 36. When you are 25, when I was in Philly, we made Conference Finals, you lose Game 7, you're thinking you'll get there again and you'll win it. Then it's maybe 9, 10 years later, you're in the same spot. In 10 years, you realize I'm not going to be there. Yeah, you kind of realize it might be one of your last chances. But I don't think it's any different than before. Yeah, I want to win for sure. But that comes for the whole team. Everyone is driven that we want to win. I don't think I'm the only one. Q. Michal, just coming over here, obviously you had some familiarity with the organization, but a lot of different faces, too. How did you feel about the reception? Were you a guy that Joel kind of started going to? MICHAL HANDZUS: Like I said, I came in and they play great. I mean, they set the record. There wasn't any fall‑off after that. They just keep playing, winning after that. I wasn't a guy that come in and start talking about what we should do. I was a guy just try to fit in. Look around, be pretty quiet, just fit in. They had their ways, their systems that was in place before I came here. My job was just fit in quietly. That's what I trying to do. Q. Michal, you're obviously familiar with Mike Richards. You've played with him through the years. Darryl Sutter said he's not going to be playing tonight. What kind of a loss is that for them? How do you adjust? MICHAL HANDZUS: It's not going to be easy at all. He's great player. He's still great player. Their team is all about two‑way guys. He has great offensive skills. He's very tough to play against on the defense also. He's a really great leader. I played with him when I was really young. You could already see his first year in the league, he was leader already. He was kind of developing where he's going to be right now. But in saying that, you know, it's playoffs. They miss the guys. Other guys going to step up. We don't look at it that it's going to be easy or anything like that. It's going to be way tougher, I think. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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