SAY WHAT: 'HE'S GOT VERSATILITY'

GEOFF WARD ON KEY TONIGHT:

ON SAM BENNETT:

"He's got versatility and we want to use it. We're going to see him at centre ice, we're going to see him on the wing. We had come out of a pretty flat period (the other night) and those guys hadn't played an awful lot once we got into the penalty situations. The one thing about your team is, we talk about our depth, and we need those guys. I didn't think it was prudent at that time to shorten (our bench) to three lines; we're going to need all our players to play all the time, especially with three games in four days or six in eight. The shortening is, I think, could be detrimental at points. We wanted to see some other things, so we made the switch. He's got some chemistry with Backs. You've got to remember, he scored 18 goals playing with Backs one year. They've got some chemistry together, so we felt like we could make the switch and he would be fine there, and he was. He played real, real well there. I think that just says something about his versatility. When you have guys like that that can play different positions, they really give you an ace in the hole in terms of how you deploy your lineup."

SAM BENNETT ON MOVING AROUND LINEUP:

"I've got to be ready every game. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of movement, a lot of different guys that I'm going to be playing with. I'm used to it at this point - it's been that way for a couple years now. I've got to be prepared and really just focus on my game."

ON PLAYING WITH MIKAEL BACKLUND:

"He's awesome. He's one of my favourite guys to play with. He's so defensively responsible he actually gives you more opportunities offensively. He's a great skater and can make plays and he does all the little things right, and it makes it an easy game to play with him."

NOAH HANIFIN ON TRAVIS HAMONIC:

"He was obviously a good guy to play with when he was here. Veteran guy, has played a lot of games. I feel like, for me coming to Calgary, it was definitely helpful in some ways. Obviously, it's a new year this year we've got some new guys on the team and I'm just focused on that right now."

ON CHRIS TANEV:

"He's been great. He's super easy to play with. Obviously, I knew playing against him the past few years, but I didn't quite realize how much he brings to the table for the team until he got here and for me, he's been a great guy to play with and I'm looking forward to build with him on the ice and keep forming some chemistry."

ON PLAYING WITH NO FANS

"Obviously it's great have crowds in the game and there's nothing really like it, but once the games starts and you get into the flow of it, you kind of settle in and focus on the action. I don't think once we settle in, it will be too different - but we all miss having fans in the building."