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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 2, 2016Doug ArmstrongTom RenneyQ. Wondering if you can take us through the process of monitoring Carey's status, what helped you guys determining his preparedness and any thought to him holding offthe initial 16? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Yeah, obviously when Carey was injured, we were monitored to see about when he would be back to playing. When we got to the first of February, we talked as a group, and I talked to Carey with Marc the first of February and said, here are our options. You're obviously when healthy, No.1 goalie on the planet based on your previous work, do you want to be named to this team. Then we gave him a couple of weeks to digest all the options, and at that time, we also asked‑‑ or not asked. Marc talked to ownership to make sure they were comfortable with the decision we were going to make. Obviously this is a big tournament for hockey, but Carey Price is a huge piece for the Montreal Canadiens. So we wanted to make sure that the Canadiens team and ownership was comfortable with the decision. Then we went to Carey and said okay, everyone's on board, which direction do you want to go. He said he'd like to be named to the initial group, and we went through if you're unable to play for whatever reason‑‑ not you, any of the 23, you can be replaced up until that date. So we included him in the process. We wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the decision we were going to make. And I didn't quite‑‑ not quite. I did not ask them about a daily update on when he's going to play again this year. My quest for Carey is for next September, and I left the day‑to‑day things and where they are at in their rehab and where they are at with the Canadiens and Carey individually. Q. Doug, can you walk us through your decisions on thedefense so far, two lefties, two righties. A lot of difficult choices, they had a lot of depth there. Was the decision to name three goalies in part to give yourself as much leeway as possible on defense, especially on the right side? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Yeah, that's a two‑part question, I'll answer them both. I think we named three goalies because we believe these are the best three goalies right now for us. If you look at what Carey has done up until the injury, that resumé speaks for itself. The other two goaltenders are both in the Top‑10 in goals against and save percentage, and one and two in the NHL in wins. One guys has a couple Stanley Cups, and one guys is potentially knocking on the door on 50 wins. And also, that if for whatever reason one of the three can't play, we wanted to make sure the other two understood that there was not an add‑on or you weren't considered in that echelon of goaltender. Now we get to defense. We look at that Sochi group, and I think that might have been the best defensive group put together for international competition. The number of goals that they allowed rank up there with the all‑time best. And the synergy between those four players; they played as a group, those four, so we went with those guys. There is really good competition underneath that, both on the right side and the left side. I would say that as a management group, we think the right side has a greater diversity of style of players. We have some very good offensive players and some very good 200‑foot players. And when you're talking this level of player, we're not talking specialist. The ones that we say are most (indiscernible) offense still play 27 minutes and they can kill penalties and do all the things for their NHL teams, so we're splitting hairs on what they are going to provide our team. On the left, you have Jay Bouwmeester that was on the last team. I know Jay very well obviously. He has a dynamic of speed and his ability to transport the puck by himself out of areas, and then there's a list of other players on that left side that have come into the radar screen. I don't want to name those players, because if I do, I'll leave one off and that's really unfair to the process. I think that we're going to have really tough decisions on what we want. Also, we're going to incorporate the coaches and Joel Quenneville who is going to run the D and Mike Babcock obviously is the head coach. What I know Mike from the Olympics is he likes predictability. He likes to know that he can play a player in any situation. What we have here in the Olympics, and I'm sure at the World Cup, is you're not going to be able to hide anyone. There's no real good matchup when you're playing the Russians. There's no good matchup when you're playing really any team at this level. We want to get players out there that can play in any situation against maybe against anyone at any time five‑on‑five. Q. Doug, when you announced your coaching staff in November, you seemed a little surprised when I asked you about Sidney Crosby's participation, and you assured me that he would be on the team. Did it make your life a little easier, the fact that he did find his game as the season progressed? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Well, I never really had any question that he was going to find his game. Bob Gainey, who I learned a lot under, said, you know, when you've been a player 15, 16 years in the NHL, you're going to have bad stretches. Don't let the one small portion override the rest of it. Sidney didn't have the start he wanted. The Penguins didn't have the start they wanted. Sidney is playing better now. All the Penguins are playing better now. Sidney is a great player. To me there was never any question he was going to be on this team. Not only is he going to be on the team; he's going to be asked to be a huge part of this team. Q. Obviously this isn't the whole team, but when people saw that Ryan Getzlaf was on the team, Perry had not been named yet, how is the pairings or the synergy that you mentioned earlier on the back end, up front, how much is that a consideration going forward on filling out the last seven spots and specifically in his case in, Perry's case and with get satisfy? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Well, Tom and I have been talking about this quite a bit. There's a wealth of riches when you're picking this team, and now we had to pick our 16‑‑ we didn't separate 16 candidates out of the barrel. We're going to add seven more at the end. But right now, Corey Perry is a great player and when we do name our 23, we are going to go to the World Cup of hockey as a group of 23 and not just a group of 16 plus seven. Probably our country, I don't want to disparage any of the other countries, but my belief is that we have so many players. This is a difficult process, and we left the management group with Kenny (ph) and Marc, we get the hang of this now (indiscernible) instead of just once when you're picking the Olympic Team. So the Corey Perry, when you look at the synergy of Sochi, Jamie Benn is on the left wing there. So you have a Corey Perry, I guess‑‑ I'm sorry, Getzlaf and Benn. But Corey Perry is a great player. If you watch the Anaheim Ducks, they have the best record in hockey. We had finalized this list about a week ago. I turn on the hockey game the other night, L.A. versus Anaheim, and bang, bang, bang. He's a great player and he's going to get a lot of attention going down the stretch. Q. Tom, along those lines when you've seen, Marc Bergeron involved, PK, Bob Murray, how do you view how those guyshave handled the fact they have to wear two hats and we all recognize it's a very difficult thing to do. TOM RENNEY: I appreciate, I just have to view it, quite honestly. You know, these fellows are pros. So they know how to construct a team, and understand that the end product is all about the process of getting there. I think as Doug as has allueded to, and you can tell by the way he articulates his thoughts, that we'll end up with the right people at the end of the day of 23. It can't be easy, no question about that. But I think it shows you the global look that these fellas have in putting this team together, and recognizing the fact that even though they might have great players themselves, they are looking big picture. And quite honestly you have to. And the beauty of all of that is there is still lots of runway with which to evaluate players, understand where they might fit in, what the National Hockey League sees in the playoffs of course but even World Championships, for example. Q. Tom, how exciting is this tournament, both for you as a team, and when you look ahead to the whole competition, when you consider things like the Under 23 team, the special team Europe and putting together Team Canada? TOM RENNEY: It's outstanding, it really is, the Under 23 team or 22 Under team is the X‑factor. The European team is a very good hockey club obviously. The other nations are well represented by National Hockey League players that can flat‑out play. If I'm a fan of the game, whether I'm coaching in it and generally just view it or whatever, I don't know whether it's get any better than this. The fact that it's on a 200 by 85 here in Toronto, a mecca for the game globally without a doubt, really it helps establish the game from our point of view as Hockey Canada whereby we get an opportunity to understand why we love it and why we should play it. Q. How important were possession numbers in figuring out most of the forwards, and if so, did that help Jeff Carter get into that initial round of 60 and players? DOUG ARMSTRONG: We look at analytics and we look at everything that's involved. But ultimately, we scout these players. I don't think Carter got in based on analytics. Carter got in based on his play on a nightly basis based on two championships, based on Sochi, based on his skating. So he's a great player. As I said, analytics are a useful tool maybe with our NHL team. It's hard to put‑‑ I do put stock in using analytics to differentiate at this level also, but we're talking elite of the elite and all of these guys are going to have good analytic Cal numbers. Some of it is based on the competition they play with on a nightly basis. Q. Doug, how much did you speak with Steve Yzerman to pick his brain? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Quite a bit. I was fortunate enough that Steve asked me to tag along back in Russia for the World Championships and allowed me to have assigned pair of seats for the last two Olympics. And watching Steve go through the process, I tried to learn quite a bit from observing. But no one is going to get the job ‑‑ I've learned a lot more by asking questions. He's been a great friend, a great supporter of Hockey Canada, as a player, and through management. I probably talk to Steve as much as any manager in the game. Because of that friendship that he's afforded me from working together, but I do ask him, I ask him how do you deliver bad news to these players. He was that player. He was that calibre of player. I never played the game at the level, at the NHL level. So when I need to go down, I use my resources and Steve is one of the best resources both on how to deal with these people and evaluation of penalties looked pretty darned good back in Sochi. Q. Tom, with all your experience internationally, you've seen too much through so many tournaments what are you looking forward to the most about this World Cup and how unique it is? TOM RENNEY: Again it's just a fabulous collection of players, and I think when you put all that together and the size and the speed and the skill level at every position, the confidence of the goaltending for sure, you put that on 200 by 85 and I mean, it's hockey on steroids quite honestly with all due respect to the analogy. The bottom line is that this is just going to be a fabulous event, and the National Hockey League and the PAA have certainly done it right with this type of an event here in Toronto. I just think it's going to be outstanding? Q. Do you feel this might be maybe a better model preseason back to September versus the Olympic style in the season, during the season? TOM RENNEY: You know, it's a tough question for me because I believe so much in the Olympic model and I've had experience with it myself personally, as have others. The bottom line is I think they can co‑exist and I think any time we can see best on best in any age group quite honestly it's the way to go. The fact of the matter is that you have the opportunity to see it under both circumstances, and I think that's healthy. Q. Trying to figure out the last seven roster spots, is there an expectation to go to the World Championships, and how big a role will that tournament fill in trying to fill out rest of this roster? TOM RENNEY: Doug and I are both sitting here looking at each other to see who wants to answer the question. I guess I'll let Army do that, quite honestly. He's shown me that he's putting this team together. DOUG ARMSTRONG: I don't think we ever want to put pressure and force the player to play in any event. The way that you evaluate players is you evaluate them through the season and you evaluate them when the lights are shining the brightest. The light shined very bright in the Stanley Cup playoffs and they shine very bright in the World Championship or any world event. But in Sochi with Team Canada, at the World Championships, what you want in that event, you want players that are hungry to represent their country and want to be there. They are not being there for any reason other than they love to play their game and love to represent their country. Q. If Carey Price doesn't play a game the rest of the regular season, would he be able to play in St. Petersburg? DOUG ARMSTRONG: Again, I don't want to get the cart in front of the horse. This is something that I want to leave to Carey Price. There's a lot of time left in the season, and his medical status will be evaluated by the Montréal Canadiens. THE MODERATOR: That will conclude the formal avail. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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