I like the steps we've been taking and the progress since the end of last year," Gudas said. "I think we are way better now than we were at this time last year. It's a great step for us, especially from the young guys who have improved and are more confident this year."
"It was a better camp this year," Cronin said. "From our experience last year, it was more organized and the players were more familiar with what the expectations were. When you have that familiarity, everything goes quicker."
Anaheim's lineup has been mostly set for the last week following a competitive training camp, especially so on the backend with eight defensemen competing for six regular spots.
"[Brian Dumoulin] brings a lot of poise and a lot of experience," Gudas said. "We needed that, a presence to help calm each other down...We're trying to get pucks to our centers and wingers earlier and with more confidence so we can make more plays and get out of the zone."
With John Gibson out due to an emergency appendectomy, 24-year-old Lukas Dostal will make his first career opening night start.
"It's very tough to lose a guy like Gibby," Gudas said. "We're hoping for the best recovery. He's one of the best goalies in the league so it's a big hurdle for us at the start, but Dosty has been there for us whenever we needed him. He proved last year he can play big games. All the guys have a lot of confidence in him."
On the other side, San Jose returns to action tonight after an exciting but ultimately disappointing season opener Thursday night on home ice. The Sharks led 4-1 in the third period, helped by the first two points of first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini's NHL career, but could not hold off a late Blues rally in a 5-4 OT defeat.
"Thought [Celebrini] was really good," San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky told NHL.com's Max Miller. "Obviously, points are one thing. There are some things he needs to learn without the puck, him and [fellow rookie Will Smith], but I thought they were both solid in their debuts."
Despite the strong start, Celebrini appears questionable for tonight's game as the standout rookie did not practice yesterday amidst a lower-body injury.
Still in the early stages of its rebuild, San Jose brought on several veterans this offseason to help ease the transition for Celebrini, Smith and Co., most notably former King Tyler Toffoli, defenseman Jake Walman and goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
