Poehling: 'Everyone is on their own path'

BROSSARD -- Several players and head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters after the first training camp practices at the Bell Sports Complex on Thursday.

Forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Ryan Poehling answered questions before Ducharme stepped up to the microphone.
Here are a few highlights from their respective interviews:
Suzuki on being a dependable center during the upcoming season:
I'm just trying to grow as a player, expand my role, and try to be more relied upon. We made some moves over the summer and brought in some young guys, so I'm just looking to step up in my role. I just want to kind of pick up where Phil [Danault] left off. I want to try to penalty kill more. I feel like I can be a good piece there, just playing against other teams' top lines. I know I had some experience, so I want to be relied upon. And then the next step in faceoffs is a big key for me. I've been working on that aspect.

Suzuki on being a young leader:
Being a part of the leadership group, I'm not going to really change who I am. I'll just lead by example and give my all in practice and in games. Being a young guy, I've got to pick my points if I want to speak up or not, so I'm just trying to get comfortable and get to know all the new guys as well.

Caufield on the challenges of an 82-game schedule:
I'm looking forward to playing more hockey. That's everyone's goal in life, to do this for a long time. It's going to be a grind, it's going to be a long season, but I'm just trying to be more consistent, learn from the other guys, and just kind of soak in what they tell me.

Caufield on the influence of captain Shea Weber on his career to date:
Just how serious he took being a pro. Everyday coming to the rink early, he's always one of the last ones to leave and he's always working on his body. Credit to him. That's why he's played so long. He's a great guy to look up to. Everybody respects him for who he is. He doesn't have to speak out much. People just listen to him or just watch what he does and it's enough for us. Nobody's going to replace Shea. We've got guys who've learned from his experience and learned from last year's playoffs. We're going to try and fill his role as much as we can. It's going to be pretty tough losing a guy like that this year, but we believe in the guys we have in this room and we're going to be excited to get going.
Poehling on his development since being drafted 25th overall in 2017:
Everyone is on their own path. You can't get frustrated with someone else's path being different from yours and yours being different from someone else's. It's the best path for you. I've kind of realized that and just said, 'Hey! I'll continue on the path and trust it.' I think it's all going to work out in the end and wherever you should be, you should be. Last year was a great start for me and I can just trust that and continue doing that, and hopefully this year it works out for me.

Poehling on fine-turning his mental approach to fix his game:
Honestly, it took a while. You get thrown in, you come out of college, I have a great first game and then the sky's the limit for you, especially in this place where the media and the organization, and the history behind it, everything's so crazy. You have so many high expectations for yourself. Then, the way I fell off like that, it just felt like the world was coming down on me, but it took me long enough to realize that I'm not that important to everyone else. You think so highly of yourself and you think so low of yourself, but I finally realized that I needed to stick on that path. That's what it came down to during my second season, which was good.
Ducharme on reuniting Caufield with Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli up front:
We formed that line because those three guys had some chemistry together. Suzuki and Caufield already have good chemistry. Toffoli and Suzuki also showed some chemistry in the past. They did good things together in the playoffs. We'll start out with that combination, but things can definitely change two weeks from now. It all depends on the way they perform on the ice. If they play the right way, they could play 82 games together.

Ducharme on being excited about the 2021-22 campaign:
I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of our younger players. I want to see if we've learned from our experience last season. I want to see if we're going to use that experience the right way. That's something that can really help everyone develop and grow.