On working dynamic with Keefe
I let him coach. It’s a lot less stress for me. I’m probably deep down a coach in a manager’s office. But it’s been nice. We believe in the same things. It’s nice to see it carried out. Practice is so important to get better and improve. Practice is hard and it should be, so games come a little bit easier by the way we practice. It’s paying forward.
On team getting to the next level
The maturity of our younger guys blossoming, look at Luke (Hughes) as an example. The way he’s playing away from the puck, having that stability to his right in (Brett) Pesce. It’s contagious to be honest. You’re seeing the maturity in our group. They know practice is important. In the past, if guys were a little banged up I might not (practice). That’s unacceptable. If you can skate, you can practice. Overall, the maturity of our group on the ice for sure. This has always been a close group off the ice. There’s no surprise there.
On what the next challenge is
I spoke earlier about certain guys here buzzing offensively. If our power play doesn’t score, if one of our top lines doesn’t score, we need more from other people quite honestly contributing wise, without naming any names. There’s a reason we’ve been shutout five times. When the first line, second line doesn’t score a goal and the power play doesn’t score, we don’t score. We need guys to step up and start producing. It was great to see Mercer score the other night. Hopefully that’ll be the snowball running downhill a little bit. It comes in waves. It really does. You’ll see certain guys jump on the wave and ride that as long as they can. Where we’re at right now, I love where we’re at. The way we’re playing without the puck. Defending first. Limiting teams, especially coming through the neutral zone. In the past it felt like we were Swiss cheese. All owing teams to come through and gaining entry. Now we’re very demanding of playing the right way in the neutral zone. Forechecking harder. We’re not one-and-done as we used to be, and we still have that quick attack mentality. It’s been good.
On Nemec in Utica
It’s never easy when you’re re-assigning a kid, literally, to the American Hockey League after spending the majority of the time last year with the big club. The reality is, it’s a meritocracy here man. We’re here to win. If you can’t help contribute, you’re not going to play. A young player like that, if he’s not playing, he’s not sitting. We have the luxury to send him down. He doesn’t need waivers. There is a demand to go down and work on the things you need to work on. Be better aware of your surroundings and the people around you. It’s not about offense. We don’t need offense. We need guys to defend and be harder to play against, and really thrive in that area. The coaches down there know exactly what they need to do, but at the end of the day the individual has to want to do it. And he has. His attitude has been great. He’s working hard. We’re really happy about that. When we do have injuries, it’s going to be next man up. Him or someone else. It’s who’s playing well down there that can help us.
On Nemec developing in Utica
Not sure who comes out of our lineup up here. He just turned 20. He’s got a long career in front of him. Right now we’re plugging pretty good. Twenty-year-olds aren’t just sitting in the stands and watching, they’re going to play.
On Kovacevic’s play
The strength of our team is our defense. You look at the guys we do have in the American Hockey League that can come up and contribute. With Johnathan, he took advantage of an opportunity. With Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes out at the lineup at the start of the year, he took full advantage of it and hasn’t looked back at all. Yeah, his contract is up. I’ll probably start having conversations with his agent after the new year, after the holidays, but at the end of the day we’ve got replacements, but he’s played really well. He fit in really well. I think he likes it here, but we’ll see.
On Markstrom’s play
I think if you ask Jacob he’d tell you he could be better. Everybody could be better, that’s for sure. But he gives us a chance every single night to win a hockey game. That doesn’t mean he can’t improve or our play around him can’t improve. He’s come in here and done what he’s done. He’s got a lot of wins. He gives us a chance to win every night. That’s all you can ask for in a goaltender.
On the off-season changes
We had boxes to check in the summer. We did that. We really like our D. We feel we addressed the goaltending to give ourselves a chance to be in games every day. We knew we could score. That was never a concern. More depth. More physicality. We did that. The ebbs and flows of a season and the ebbs and flows of production from certain players, it comes and goes. We’d like to see more of it coming to take some pressure off some other guys. We’re just a one-day-at-a-time team. That’s it. We don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s get better today at practice, then we’ll get on a flight to St. Louis, who’s playing well. That’s it. Just one day at a time.
On Luke’s contract
The whole ‘you have to get guy’s (contract) done by a certain time,’ I don’t look at it that way. I don’t look at it as if a person’s contract is up at the end of the year, can they perform with the pressures of no talks. With Luke, I plan on talking to his agent once the holidays come and go to see where they’re at. I don’t want to distract Luke at all because of the way he’s been playing. I really like the way he’s been playing away from the puck and defending. You know he can contribute offensively and transitionally with his legs or tape-to-tape pass up the ice. We’ve talked in the past. He was hurt. We wanted to get him going. He’s going now. I’m sure after the new year we’ll touch base.
On Cotter’s season
He still plays to his identity. I believe he leads us in hits up front, that’s first and foremost. His wave was pretty big at the start of the year. It’s not for lack of chances or trying. It just happens. We talked when we went out to Western Canada, my message to him was ‘don’t forget who you are as a player.’ Everything else is gravy. I don’t care if he scores 10 or 12 goals this year. But be a part of something bigger than you individually. That’s a hard team to play against, and he has.
On building a winning culture
There’s no surprises. Start with Sheldon. What his expectations are, what his standards are, how aligned he is with me. I don’t have to worry about that side of the business because that’s getting taken care of. How we practice, the details, the meetings, the systems that we’re playing, the demand of the standards. Anything less is unacceptable. You talk about players and teams maturing, I think it starts with your head coach. Cutting corners isn’t part of winning. So, we don’t cut corners and the players know it, and they keep each other accountable as well.
On Jack adding PK to his duties
It’s part of growth, it’s part of his maturity. All the great players in the league play in all situations. Jack has a coach that’s growing that part of his game. It’s great to see. It’s not just for offense. It’s to defend for us, block shots, preserve that lead. That’s why you’re out there. Penalty kill, if you’ve got an opportunity to go, a lot of teams play 4-1, the one defenseman and four forwards. You got a guy like that coming at you shorthanded is pretty scary, especially as a forward. His confidence is growing. When you have the support of your coach and the trust of your coach to go over the boards in situations that you’re not accustomed to, to me that’s growth and to me that’s where his game is going.
On the homestand atmosphere
It’s been awesome. I wish we could stay home. Our crowds have been great, very supportive. You ask any player and they’ll tell you we’ve got the best fans in the league. The support they’ve given us. At the end of the day our players performed well too. Which is nice. It’s been great. We look forward to getting back here next weekend against Pittsburgh. But we’ll take care of these games one at a time, one day at a time, and then we’ll be back.
On being part of Team USA for Four Nations Face-Off
Humbled to be a part of it, quite honestly. The goal is to do something special. That leads into the ’26 Olympics. Just humbled and honored to be a part of that. I’m looking forward to meeting these players that I don’t know. I know some of them. But getting to know them as players and getting to watch them closely, the details and preparation that they put into their game. That’s why they’re great players. I think it’s good for our own players to be around the elite of the elite. It’s going to be a great tournament.
On Luke Hughes not making Team USA
Luke was in the conversation. At the end of the day, there were hard decisions to make. There were no layups. Luke will have his day down the road, for sure.
