They Said It: Top Quotes from the Preds on Locker Cleanout Day

Emotions were still rather raw for the Predators less than 24 hours after being eliminated in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and understandably so.
After putting together a regular season hardly anyone saw coming, no one inside the Nashville locker room expected to be swept in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche, but that was the reality as Preds players addressed the media on Tuesday evening.
With their hockey bags packed and waiting in the event level hallway outside the team's locker room inside Bridgestone Arena, the Predators discussed plenty, including what happened over the past week to lead to the eventual outcome. Goaltender Juuse Saros's
injury was a hot topic
, as was forward Filip Forsberg's
future
, both of which may be read about further by clicking the appropriate link in this sentence.

There were other items, too, and while the losses were still fresh, there was a bit of hope as well. No matter how things end each spring, the promise of a new season always exists - one that will eventually come after a summer break longer than anyone would have hoped for.
Here are some of the top quotes from the Preds to wrap up the 2021-22 campaign.
Mattias Ekholm on the feeling following the conclusion of Nashville's season:
"It's still empty. It's still yearning in me. It's going to do so, I guess, for some time. Usually that's what it does, and that's the life of a hockey player. You want to be competitive; you want to try to win and when you can't, it's always empty and it's tough, but it's part of it. But I think that also [shows how much we care. If it didn't hurt], that probably would tell you that I don't care about it. So that's, I guess, a good thing, but yeah, it is what it is."

Ekholm on what it takes to find success in the playoffs:
"When it comes to playoffs, you just need to kind of find your groove at the same time. We have guys that were great throughout the whole year, but you need 25 guys to really come together at the same time and play great. Obviously, we have a lot of young guys in here, and hopefully [these playoff games] get them experience on what they need to do… It's about all of us in the room just taking small steps. That's going to make a huge step for our team. We're in the playoffs, so we're not that far off, but we've obviously got some stuff that we need to improve on, and I think that comes down to a personal level that you, as yourself, got to look yourself in the mirror and look at what can I do better and have a great summer and come back excited… When I look back at the year we went to the [Stanley Cup Final in 2017], it wasn't like we had an unbelievable team, it was just guys that came together at the right time, played their asses off pretty much and that's what we did. It's small details and the small things that you guys all know that matters big in the end. It's about all the little details."

Philip Tomasino on participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time:
"I think it's just a completely different game. For me, that was my first-ever playoff experience, so I kind of didn't really know what to expect. Everything just matters so much more. We don't really have that many guys with too much playoff experience, including myself, so I think it was a good learning experience for us to go through. And it didn't really go well, but we've talked about how it's kind of a good lesson for us to go through that adversity early on in our careers and hopefully that can help us out in the future. So, I think we all know what to expect from now on and hopefully it'll be a different outcome in the future here."

Matt Duchene on what it was like to face Colorado in the playoffs:
"I think it was good for us to see where a team like that is and play them firsthand and see what makes them successful. They're a team that's been kind of building that for a long time, but it's really come to fruition probably the last five, six years for them. And we're maybe at the beginning of that transition that they started to make around that time. Their style of game, their confidence, the way they make plays, but still play really good two-way hockey. I think there's a lot you can learn from where they're at right now and where teams like them are at. And I know it should make all of us really hungry going into summer, for sure."

Filip Forsberg on appreciating Preds fans as the season came to an end:
"It's a tough situation to lose 4-0, obviously. We're very proud of our fans for sticking with us despite that series and obviously through the whole season. They've been awesome for us, and at the time, you're not really thinking about the future too much. You're too caught up in the moment, just disappointed, and at the same time, I'm proud of the fans the way they showed up. You almost feel bad for them that we couldn't give them at least a couple more games."
Roman Josi on what allowed him to record a franchise-record 96 points during the 2021-22 season:
"There's definitely a little luck involved, but I think just the year we had as a team - I mean, I think our power play was a huge part. Our power play did really well, and I think that definitely helps your points. And then just guys like Duchene and Filip scoring that many goals… you kind of get some easy assists playing with guys like that. So, I think just the team having a good year during the regular season and scoring a lot on the power play definitely helped my game. Coming into the year, I felt like I had a little bit of something to prove coming off the last year. It was definitely a good year, and I don't take it for granted, but there's definitely a little bit of luck involved, too."

Josi on what he'll remember most about this season:
"I felt like we had a really, really tight group, and I think just kind of coming into the year we didn't get a lot of credit from the outside. It kind of brought us together as a team, and we put our heads down and just worked, and I felt like we had fun with it, too. And I think that's the thing [I'm] going to remember most is how much each guy worked for the guy next to him. That's something I'll look back at this year and I'll be really proud of."