Quotes of the day: Petry & Julien

MONTREAL - After Brett Kulak, Phillip Danault, and Tomas Tatar the day before, it was Jeff Petry and head coach Claude Julien's turn to jump on the phone for their end-of-season media availabilities. Petry looked back on the 2019-20 season, while Julien also took the opportunity to update reporters on his health status in his first public comments since his medical procedure nearly two weeks ago.

Read on for some highlights of what they said:
Before turning to hockey, Julien gave an update on his health status and recovery following a procedure to stent an artery earlier this month:
"I'm doing very well. I've recovered well, to the point that if we won Game 6 on Friday, I would've headed back to the bubble in Toronto on Saturday. I feel good. I had a scare that turned out well in the end. I'm ready to come back at 100%."

The head coach also confirmed he'd be back behind the Canadiens bench next season:
"I realized that I feel much more comfortable behind the bench than in front of the TV."
After Julien was forced to leave the Flyers series, associate coach Kirk Muller took the reins. Petry looked back on the ordeal and how the Habs powered through it:
"His health, to recover and get through everything he went through was obviously the top priority. But I think everybody in the locker room knew that we had a style and a system in place and no matter who was behind the bench, we had to execute. He put that plan into place from the day we got there in July, and we just knew what we needed to do to execute that moving forward with him behind the bench and without him when he left."
Assistant coach Luke Richardson joined Julien's coaching staff in June 2018, and Petry has adored working under the veteran of 1,417 NHL games as a player:
"I'd have to put him as one of the top coaches I've had in my career. His calming presence behind the bench - I can probably count it on one hand the number of times where you can visibly see him upset, and I don't know if I've ever heard him yell. A guy who played as long as he did in the League and the experience he had; he knows you're not going to have it every night. He knows that when you make a mistake, you're the first guy to know you made a mistake, so there's no sense hearing it when you come back to the bench. He knows how to get to guys.
"He has that ability to find little things that are going to help make each player a little bit more effective."

Entering the final year of his contract, Petry took some time to reflect on Montreal as he prepares to consider a new deal:
"From the day I got here five years ago, it's been great. The city was very welcoming to me and my family, and to experience my first playoffs that first year was a big reason why I re-signed with the team. My wife and I have made it home over the last five years."
With three straight seasons of 40 points or more, Petry has become a bastion of consistency from the backend for Montreal. The Michigander outlines some of the keys to his success:
"For a while, I was searching for consistency in my game. My approach game in and game out has been a focus of mine. I've worked hard to become a complete two-way defenseman and offensive defenseman. It's something I've worked on and worked with the coaching staff about what they expect from me. I've just focused on that from the beginning of the year."
Julien on Phillip Danault's role and how important his contributions are for the future of the team:
"What I like about our team is that we seem to be getting more and more solid at center. When you look at what Phillip Danault has done throughout the years, with the Suzukis and Kotkaniemis performing like they have, it gives us some depth at center. It's not a question of me asking Phillip to stop scoring goals. Phillip is a very good player at both ends of the ice, and that's what I expect to see from him."
Julien liked what he saw from the Habs in the 2020 playoffs, but reminded reporters that the team has to continue building on their success as 2020-21 approaches:
"Our team right now, when it's at its best, has four lines going and pushing the pace. I think that's the secret to our success with our hockey club. Hopefully we can get a little bit of depth up front that can allow us to do that. There's no doubt Marc is certainly going to work hard at trying to help us improve our team that way.
"You can't forget that when we were healthy, we had a strong start to the season. But the most important thing is to realize that we're not there yet, and we have to keep moving forward."