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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 16, 2006

DAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department. I'd like to welcome you to today's call.
With us today we have the coaches for the upcoming Eastern Conference final. First we have Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. Thanks to Lindy for taking the time today to answer your questions and thanks to the Buffalo Sabres Mike Gilbert for arranging the call.
In his eighth season behind the Buffalo bench, Lindy is a finalist for the Jack Adams award as the NHL's coach of the year. He led the Sabres to a regular season record of 52, 24 and 6 for 110 points. The fourth-seeded Sabres defeated Philadelphia in six games in the opening round and then knocked off number one Eastern Conference seed Ottawa in five games in the second game. On Saturday, they will open round three against Carolina in Raleigh at 2 p.m. eastern time on NBC.
We'll open it up for questions.
Q. The first couple rounds, the Sabres may have been believed to be or been playing the underdog role. Going in against the Hurricanes, I know you did finish with fewer points, albeit maybe two points. Do you think that underdog role has now been shed from the team?
LINDY RUFF: I think it has. I think when you get down to the final four, and you've won two series, you've got two teams that both deserve to be there. I don't believe that you could call either one and underdog. I believe one team is going to get the job done now and one isn't.
Q. In the same vein, are there any similarities between the two clubs? I know the beginning of the season, if you're going to say the Sabres and Hurricanes were going to be in the last four, a lot of people wouldn't have believed that. Both teams have young goaltenders, built through the draft, both carry a lot of speed. Do you see a lot of similarities between both clubs? How do you go about formulating a game plan against a team that may have a similar look?
LINDY RUFF: Well, I think there are a lot of similarities, if you look at Carolina's depth up front, the size and bulk of their skill forwards, like the size of a lot of ours. You have Recchi, Whitney, Doug Weight, those types of players. I think they're deep in their lineup offensively. They believe their offense can come from a lot of different ways and a lot of different lines. They probably have a little bit more on the veteran side up front. They got a great young forward in Eric Staal. They have some veteran players that have been there before, a guy like Brind'Amour that has been through a number of wars and playoff series he's been through. I think we're a little bit younger up front. I think both teams are built the same. They've got mobile defense, they've got defense that join the rush and are involved in the offense.
You've mentioned the two young goalies. It's hard to believe that their goalie is younger than ours, but it's true.
Q. About Ryan Miller, what have you seen from him in the playoffs that may have been different than the regular season and how he's handling his first post-season as a rookie?
LINDY RUFF: I think if you look at the playoff run so far, I think as a coach you don't really know what to expect. I think you're hoping for your goaltender to step up and play his best hockey, which would sort of correlate with how well he played for periods of time for us in the regular season.
He struggled through some stretches in the regular season. What I see now is that calm confidence. He's going to keep the other team to one or two goals and not make a lot of mistakes.
Q. We just talked about the similarities between the teams. Obviously there's so many of them. What do you see as the two biggest differences between your team and Carolina, other than you mentioned the youth and the difference in the sort of veterans up front? What else do you see that's different between these two teams?
LINDY RUFF: To be honest with you, I don't see a lot of what is drastically different. Everybody keeps asking. They're pretty similar. They are. They've got good speed. Their system is pretty close to ours where you've got a five-man attack coming, it's a five-man defense. It would be tough for me to pick out something that is drastically different.
Q. Every year is different. 1999 you were considered by many a surprise team. When this year did you think you could get this far? Obviously, the confidence has to be brimming with this team.
LINDY RUFF: Well, the confidence is definitely there. I think, you know, we went that training camp. We had a good training camp. We started the first 10 days off of the season on a real good note. The belief was there early that if we maintained the type of play we came out of training camp with, we could be a very good team and do some damage in the league.
I think it wasn't till later on when we really started to play good hockey on the road. We had the nine-game winning streak on the road. I've always said that a lot of times you can tell a lot about your team by the way they play on the road, the number of games they win. We went through that stretch. There was a belief with the way we were playing at home, continuing this type of play on the road, that we could do some damage.
Q. Then late in the year, you battled through a slump and got out of it. How did you get out of that?
LINDY RUFF: Well, I think you first take a look at that schedule, and the schedule was ridiculous. Not that it wasn't ridiculous for most teams, but we played 17 games in 30 days. We had some injuries through that stretch. We got some guys back healthy finally. We just put the pieces back together.
We started by winning a game, and all of a sudden we finished the year, I think, by winning seven of our last eight and five in a row.
Q. Is this the quickest team you've ever seen or ever coached?
LINDY RUFF: I've said that from a depth standpoint, you know, four lines that you really feel when you put them on the ice have a very good chance to contribute, to score. Our transition has been very good. I think it's something that has surprised teams at times. But I think the surprise is only in the fact that it's four lines that do it in and out. You really don't get a chance to catch your breath if you're the other team playing us.
Q. If we were sitting down last September at the beginning of camp and somebody said that the Sabres and Hurricanes are going to be meeting in the final, not only that, they may be the two most legitimate teams in the Eastern Conference to meet in that final, would you have, after you go, I hope so, raised a furrowed eyebrow at that?
LINDY RUFF: I think most people would. Probably we kept asking this question, was what we saw at the end of 03/04 real? We were a good offense steam. We finish 10th in offense. We felt if we cleaned up our game defensively, we could be a much better team. Does anybody expect to be where you're at and have the number of wins in the new NHL?
We thought we could compete with anybody, but I think we're mildly surprised at where we finished. But that confidence grew a lot during the year.
Q. At the same time, do you kind of look at the two teams, the Hurricanes and the Sabres? I know some people are calling them the kind of model franchises for the so-called new NHL. Do you agree with that? Maybe you look at the other side, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, young and fast seems to be the way to go.
LINDY RUFF: Well, I do know that speed is very important in today's game. That has made the game so much better from a scoring chance and offensive side. Really that type of speed neutralizes teams defensively at the same time.
It just seems every year there's a new flavor for the NHL. I hate to say we're the flavor. But a lot of times teams look around, say, "How did they do it? How did Carolina do it? How is Anaheim doing it?" I think there is some common ground there with the youth and the speed. It has served all three teams you've mentioned very well.
Q. Now that you've got this kind of offensive juggernaut, have some of your critics shut up, that the only thing you can do is coach a defensive game as they said back in '99?
LINDY RUFF: I think, you know, we went through -- part of it is we went through a pretty tough time with ownership, bankruptcy. Sometimes you have to coach the team that you have. We didn't have a lot of options. I think to be competitive, sometimes you have to hunker down and play the fence.
As a coach, when the players change and you try to play each player to his strength, I think the strength of our team and our players is the offensive capabilities that probably 90% of our players have.
Q. Could you talk a bit about Chris Drury, maybe what you've seen this spring in terms of stepping into a leadership role, scores power-play goals, penalties, logs a lot of ice time, sort of does it all. Have you seen a change or evolution in terms of him as a player and leader on your team?
LINDY RUFF: I really think I have. I think what you see is a player that is really relishing the fact that he has not a second- or third-line scoring type of role, but a leadership role in the sense that he gets just as big a twinkle in his eye when he goes out to kill a penalty now as when he tries to get one on the power play because he knows how much that means.
I think when we started this penalty killing rule a couple years ago, somebody criticized me for turning him into a defensive player. But I think he right now is as well-rounded a player as you can have on a team. He can score the goals. He's been great on our penalty-killing situations. He's a guy that lays his body out there in a shot-blocking category nine times out of ten.
I think he's enjoying the role he's in as a lead guy. I think he's been around some tremendous individuals in Colorado. I'm talking about Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, the likes of that leadership group there which I think helped him develop as a player and helped develop his character.
Q. Ryan Miller, how poised he is in interviews, things of that nature, are you surprised at all about how confident and how well he's handled things so far at the young age of 25?
LINDY RUFF: Well, I think mildly. I think we did have question marks. He handled things well during the regular season. As a coach, you know the playoff dynamics are a whole different ballgame. Pleasantly surprised how he's been able to keep an even keel and do it night after night and keep the composure.
It's not easy when you're playing four games in six nights against the same team in heated environments. I think his composure has been the one thing that has been the strength of his game.
Q. In terms of your timetable and how you'd like things to be structured, have you had enough time to rest guys like Connolly and McKee?
LINDY RUFF: We've had enough time. We've almost had a week off here. That time is going to make us healthier. I think there's always players that get a little bit banged up that need a little bit extra time. I think the days off in between here should serve us well.
Q. You and Peter are finalists for Jack Adams. I'm wondering if you think that's testimony to the fact you're great coaches, but a lot of people that voted for the award felt both your teams surprised the most this year.
LINDY RUFF: I think that has something to do with it. I think nobody anticipated each of our teams doing as well. I think as a coach, you always believe strongly in your team. I think that's probably why we're in the position we're in, because we have exceeded a lot of the expectations that were put upon our teams early in the year.
Q. What are some of the traits or things you've noticed about Peter from coaching against him over the years?
LINDY RUFF: Well, you know, his teams always play that upbeat, offensive type of game where he wants people involved. It's high-tempo games. You have two skating teams that are going to go at it. Peter likes that up-tempo game.
Q. You talked about Chris Drury, how he lays out his body, blocks shots. That's something that is a characteristic for your whole team. How much of that is a function of coaching and teaching that, and how much of it is just a function of the personality of the players you have on your team?
LINDY RUFF: Well, you'd have to divy that percentage up. There's a lot of guys on most teams that really aren't fond of giving up the body to block shots. In our case, it's part of the way we need to play. It's part of what we expect from each other. It's part of understanding that if this shot gets through, it has a chance to go in. If it doesn't go in directly, there's a chance for it to get tipped.
For us it's important that guys lay it on the line and make sure they're in the shot lanes. Probably 90% of the time, make sure they get hit with them.
Q. Could you tell me what initially attracted you and management to go and get Toni Lydman?
LINDY RUFF: Well, I think you look at the amount of ice time Toni had played in Calgary and the role he played. You knew he was an important piece there. I think when we looked at him from a standpoint of watching film on him, it just seemed like a very steady defenseman that could play against the big people in the league, was mobile, had some offense to him when he needed that offense, but was just a sound defenseman.
Q. 1988/'89, you played 13 games for the Rangers. In that same season, Peter Laviolette played 12. Did your paths cross during that time? What do you remember of him as a player, whether you've spoken to him during your coaching time?
LINDY RUFF: Sounds like I was a little better player at that time.
Q. You got traded that year.
LINDY RUFF: Six games more (laughter).
No, you know, our paths did cross. Peter is a real good guy. I think he's had a fabulous career here coaching from coaching in this league to coaching the Olympic team. Puts a lot of work into it.
DAVID KEON: Thanks very much, Lindy, for your time.
LINDY RUFF: You're welcome.
DAVID KEON: Good luck.
Now with us, we have Carolina head coach Peter Laviolette. In his second season behind the Hurricane bench, Peter guided the team to 52, 22, 8, for 112 points. The No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Also a finalist for the Jack Adams award as the National Hockey League's coach of the year. Peter has led Carolina to a six-game series victory on Montréal Canadiens followed by a five-game series win over the New Jersey Devils. The Hurricanes open the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday at 2 p.m. eastern time on NBC.
We thank Peter for taking the time to join us. We'll open it up for questions.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about Mike Commodore, he's up near the top in terms of hits delivered during the playoffs. Where does he fit into sort of the defensive scheme that obviously has been successful after the second game against Montréal.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, you know, even the first game against Montréal, I thought defensively I thought pretty tight. I know we gave up six goals. Scoring opportunity-wise, I think we gave up, I don't know, 14 chances. Too many of them ended up in the back of our net. Game 2 was a little bit too loose for me.
Defensively I thought that he's been -- all year long, especially coming -- right before the Olympics, he had had a really bad Charlie horse. He was finding it tough to move on the ice. I think the Olympic break did him some good. When he came back from the Olympic break and had some time to rest that injury, he played extremely well for us down the stretch, has been paired with Brett for quite some time now. Together they're a really good combination. Mike is a big, strong, physical defenseman. Brett is a puck-moving defenseman that skates extremely well. It's been a really good pair for us. They're both very smart players.
I think Mike, you know, his puck-moving ability, his offense gets a little underrated at times. I know he's not like a point guy that racks up the offense, but he does move the puck well; he makes the right decision with the puck. He can skate with it or jump into the play. Physically, you know, he and Aaron Ward are probably two of our more physical defensemen. He's done a really good job of fitting in on this defense by committee we have.
Q. Have your boys made you go out and get the white bathrobes, the shower sandals that are all the rage in the triangle now?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: It's pretty big here. The hair is God-given. The bathrobe, you get to pick the gifts for Christmas from the team. There was a barbecue set, the 'Canes cooler, 'Canes luggage. He saw the bathrobe, ordered it up. Had the 'Canes logo. The staff went out and sewed No. 22 on it. All of a sudden it's the hit of the triangle, even getting bigger than that.
You know what, he's a terrific person, liked by everybody on the team. He's just got a great personality.
Q. You and Buffalo are two teams that really embrace the new NHL. Could you give me your view on a couple of keys that you think are very important for teams to embrace in terms of being successful the way the game is being played now.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, whether it was the new NHL or old NHL, we were probably going to play it the same way, which is pressuring pucks, a more aggressive style, I guess, where you just allow people to pursue as much as possible.
I think some teams tend to stay with that 1-2-2 even on a forecheck in the offensive zone, but in the neutral zone as well, just that mentality of making sure you have guys on the defensive side of the puck. I think there's two ways you can think about it. One is you're thinking about offense first; and two, you're thinking about defense first. There's definitely, in my opinion, a clear-cut mentality to different teams in the league. Just the two teams we played in the first round for me, Montréal is a team that thinks of offense, puck pursuit with their forwards, speed.
New Jersey is a little bit different. They're more of a deeper trap. They send one man on the forecheck, the other two guys kind of read off that. There's definitely different mentalities. I don't think there's a right way and wrong way. I think it's whatever works for your team. Whatever it is, whatever system you put in place, from there it's execution and how hard you play the system.
I don't necessarily believe that systems win or lose hockey games. I think it's how well your team gets on the same page, how hard they play that system. Ultimately, the players determine the games.
Q. What about in terms of discipline? In the old days you could clutch and grab. Now your defensemen have to deal with positioning, speed.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: There's no question, that was for me probably the biggest change coming in. The league wanted to change and think offense, allow people to skate, move freely. The only thing that really got talked about was the offense. But what really had to be worked on from day one was how to defend, how to keep your stick on the ice, stick on stick, stick on puck, how to do moving picks, how to gain space and time for yourself out there.
The offensive side of the puck is easy because you've got it. If you're allowed to move with it, that's what these players do. They're very creative, they're talented people. What you needed to do was keep the puck out of your net. How do you position yourself, how do you check now, how do you pick without getting penalties. Just a lot of different areas defensively that probably was a lot more difficult to learn than the offensive part of what you're trying to do.
Q. Obviously your two teams are mirrors of each other. Do you think back in September if somebody would have said to you the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes are going to be in the Eastern Conference final, but they're probably the two most deserving teams of that, along with wishful thinking, do you think a lot of people predicted this?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I can guarantee you a lot of people didn't predict this. I'm sure they probably felt good about their team as training camp moved forward and the season started. I can tell you that when we went through training camp, and I know it's only training camp, on any given night, there was two players out of our lineup and three players out of the opposition's lineup for the exhibition games. We had four guys out, they had three out. Whatever it was, it was always pretty equal. We liked the way we were playing in training camp. I know that training camp doesn't mean anything. But I also think you set the tone or set the style or the identity that you want your team to play in those games.
What happened to us was we liked, not only the result, but we liked the way it was getting done also, just scoring chances for and scoring chances against, how much puck time we were possessing, how little time we were possessing on our end, how we were playing defense, offense. I feel we left training camp feeling like we were going to win a lot of hockey games. Nobody has a crystal ball to see how many games you're going to win, how many injuries you're going to win, what kind of circumstances are going to happen through the course of the year. Just based on the personnel we had, how we were playing, we thought we would win games.
From there, we threw together a couple of nine-game winning streaks. We through together three, four, five game winning streaks. I think we got to a point where we felt like it didn't matter who we were playing in the Eastern Conference or Western Conference. We felt like we could win the game or ought to win the game. Obviously, you don't win them all, but there was a belief we were good enough to do that. I think from there your expectations just grow. You talk about winning your division, because that's all you could do in the regular season. You can't win a Stanley Cup in the regular season. We talked about winning the conference, we talked about being first overall in the Eastern Conference, we talked about being first overall in the National Hockey League. These are the conversations we dealt with throughout the year.
Then ultimately, through the course of time, winning a Stanley Cup, what it was going to take.
I think it kind of just kept growing from there. Every team -- I think every team at the start of the year intends on winning the Stanley Cup. I would like to think anyway that nobody enters the season thinking they're not going to win a Stanley Cup and plan for that and work towards that. Then obviously 29 teams are disappointed.
I think that we had a belief from very early on that we were going to win a lot of hockey games. You don't have a crystal ball to see where that's going to take you.
Q. In the same manner, Lindy said he saw a lot of parallels between your two teams. We asked him about what significant differences there were between the teams. He didn't really find any from the fact that you're both up for the coach of the year, rookie goalies, playing a fast-skating attack style. Can you see any big differences either, or are these teams almost a mirror of each other?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think they're pretty similar. Somebody asked me that same question almost today. What are the differences? Everybody said the teams are a lot alike. What are the differences? There's really not a lot. I couldn't come up with an answer either, I guess.
Even just through the course of the season, I mean, they had a lot of success. They had some really good streaks. They had some tough times like we did, as well. They won the same amount of games as we did. They won 52 games. Both won eight games in the playoffs. I think there have been a lot of similarities.
It should be great, I think, hockey. I thought even the games we played against them this year, I think two of them were pretty even. One of them I thought we got the better of them a little bit. I thought the last game here in our building, they got the better of us a little bit. Pretty close. Great hockey games.
Q. Playoffs obviously are about passing tests. You guys were tested so early when you dropped the first two games against Montréal. How did you get through that time? That was sort of the turning point of your playoffs.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think you look back on it, you never want to go down 2-0 in a series. But looking back on it, having made it out of there, it might have been the best thing that happened to us. We played the last 20 games of the season 22, 21, 23 points ahead in our division and knew we were going to win the Southeast Division, which would guarantee us one of the top three spots in the conference. We knew that we most likely were not going to fall out of the No. 2 spot just based on one of the divisions not being able to catch us as time moved on.
We ended up playing -- we dealt with a lot of injuries. I think we had like 270 man games lost to injury. But we played one good game and then we would play a lousy game. We would have a video session or a meeting, whatever, talk about that lousy game, try and change the path of that. Then we would go out and play another good game, then we'd have a lousy game. It just kept -- you know, there wasn't a lot of consistency in our game back then.
It entered into the playoffs. The Game 1 game, I think for me, and Montréal, against Montréal, was kind of deceiving. The score, I don't think, was quite indicative of the game. Nonetheless, when it comes to playoffs, it's all about the score. We came out on the short side of it 6-1. We played the next night, they got up on us again. We came back and made a goalie change for the game, ended up being 6-5 in overtime.
It may have been a good wake-up call for us because Montréal had been in a good mode to try to make the playoffs. Other teams had tried to do the same thing. We were on one, off one. Now we had to hunker down, we had to dig in. Almost looking back at it, being down 0-2, having to lose our first overtime game, having to get in more overtime games, having to come back to tie games in the third period action then win them in overtime, like all this maybe makes us tougher and better tested for the playoffs where we hadn't been in that mode for a while. Maybe it was just what we needed.
Q. Has Doug Weight been everything you thought he'd be for your team?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, Doug Weight, Mark Recchi, both of these guys have come in and done what we wanted, and that's be a contributing part to a team mentally. We feel like we've got pretty good depth on our lines. But they have come up with valuable games and valuable plays through the course of the playoffs so far. Big goals, big plays. I mean, last game against New Jersey, it's 2-1, you're hoping to put the game away. Doug Weight makes a no-look pass that probably very few people could make, would know that Ray Whitney is standing there, delivers it right on his tape. Ray buries it to make it 3-1 is with seven or ten minutes to go, whatever it was. That's why these guys were brought here, to give us depth in our attack. They've done an excellent job.
Q. One of the big questions around the Olympic time was Team USA's decision not to pick Ryan Miller as a starting goalie. The reason for not playing him? Would he have made a difference if you played him? Do you expect any kind of adverse reception from Sabres fans because of that?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: At the time of the decision to pick the goaltenders for the US, Ryan Miller was on the injured reserve list with a broken hand with no sign of when he would be back or if he would be healthy. Marty Biron had won 13 games in a row at that time for the Buffalo Sabres. Not even sure if Ryan would get back in the nets as a young goaltender, how it would play out. The goaltenders that we picked at the time were all starting goalies. They were all healthy, all playing well. I think Johnny Grahame had won his seventh or eighth game in a row in Tampa Bay. Esche and Dipietro were very familiar wearing the US jersey. It was a tough decision that had to be made. It was made way before the Olympics. USA Hockey was committed to the three goaltenders that they asked to come with us at the time we named the roster. I don't know if there will be adverse -- -people are mad about that, but Ryan Miller is certainly -- USA Hockey acknowledges that Ryan Miller is an excellent goaltender. I'm sure he'll be in a USA Hockey jersey at some point in his career. I'm sure he'll do a great job under the circumstances.
At the time of the Olympics, he was not on the roster. We could not use him.
Q. Had he been available to you, do you think he could have made the difference?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, he wasn't available, so there's no sense in speculation.
Q. Both teams, especially in the playoffs, have been successful on the road. What do you see in your dressing room and in their roster that leads to that?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Buffalo had one of the highest win totals in the league, as did we, with 52 wins. I don't think you win 52 games unless you know how to win on the road. Really I see it as an extension of their regular season as well as ours.
We've won games on the road also. I think both records might be 4-1. Are they?
Q. I think 4-1, 4-2.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Anyway, both having success on the road, I think, is just an extension of the regular season. They're a good team. I don't think the home and road matters so much. I think it does play into it. Obviously, if we had a Game 7, we'd rather it be here in Carolina; if they had one, they'd rather it be there in Buffalo. It matters. Ultimately, I think the teams on the ice decide the game. They won a lot of games on the road because they're a good hockey team.
Q. The power play obviously is going well for you. Is there something different from the regular season or just execution?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't think so. I think we found some continuity with the units. We've had, again, a lot of people in and out of the lineup. Ray Whitney was out for the last three weeks, four weeks of the season. Doug Weight was out after he got here. He was out for a couple weeks. Erik Cole remains out. We've had a lot of guys that have been injured. Stillman was in and out of the lineup. We couldn't find any continuity with the groups. Since everybody's come back, we've been a little bit healthier, we've been able to stick with some units and they've been able to work with each other. I think, one, because there's a lot of skilled players out on the ice. I mean, that helps. Power-play is all about skill, being able to read situations. We've got some guys that I think are good at that.
Q. I'm sure you've had a couple of days, if you weren't analyzing film from the Ottawa-Buffalo series before you clinched. What do you take away from the methods that Ottawa used to really contain Buffalo's power-play? It was night and day. Do you use that as a blueprint? Can you with your personnel not having a defenseman who is 8 foot 3?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, we definitely don't have that (laughter). I mean, I don't think that you can play 82 games and then however many games in the playoffs in order to get to the third round, 10 games, 9 games, 12 games, whatever it might be, doing one thing and playing a certain way, then all of a sudden change and say, okay, we're going to be a trapping team.
I think you've gotten to a certain point because your team feels comfortable with their system and what they're trying to do. Then, like I said earlier, from there it's how hard do you play that system.
I mean, obviously we will do a lot of scouting on Buffalo's power-play and we'll see what Ottawa did. I think it's got to fit somewhat into the scheme of what we do as penalty killers because that's what we're used to. This is how we do it here. Again, it's not a right way and a wrong way, it's just the way we've chosen, it's the way our players have practiced and will continue to practice. To be honest, there's not a lot of practice time.
I don't think you'll see a lot of changes from either side. It just doesn't seem to happen a whole lot in hockey. I think there are changes you make through a game on certain things that are happening. But as far as like system-changing schemes, there's not a lot of that in the NHL. I guess my belief is, anyway, learn your system, learn how to play it extremely well, play it as hard as you can. If you can do that, you're going to win a lot of games.
Q. What is your philosophy on practicing a penalty kill? Some coaches differ on that.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, we do video all the time. We have meetings every day for the penalty kill. Not every day, but through the playoffs almost every day. We talk about what we see and what's going on out there.
I think we know -- I don't know how many times you can go out and have your strong-side forward stop and start in the same line. I think it's more watching video and understanding what the opposition is going to do, what you did wrong, what you can do better. Power-play, I think you can actually go out and work on different things and be creative. Power-play, for me, is about creativity, and penalty kill is about system and executing that system.
Q. Could you talk about the role that Kevyn Adams has on the team. I know he's not a guy that you look to for a lot of scoring. He is an alternate captain. Seems he does a lot of little things your team needs to succeed.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: He is one of the leaders on this team. I think Kevyn is an excellent leader. He's a guy for us who brings energy. He can play in any position. He can hop up on any line at any time, which we've done quite a bit, and provide whatever we're looking for. For me, he's like a multi-purpose player. He's pretty good as faceoffs, he's a pretty good penalty killer. He has a lot of useful situations that he can be used in.
But he is an energy guy, I think. His line I think has played extremely well at providing that energy with Adams, Adams and Larose. They're all responsible defensively which means if the other team's top line goes out on the ice, they can certainly handle themselves defensively and get the job done against them.
You know, for me, Kevin is a terrific person that leads this team and helps bring this team into that family atmosphere that we've tried to create all year. He's done a super job for us.
Q. The fact that you're finalists for the coach of the year, do you think some of that is the fact you're both great coaches but also representative of the surprise element that the voters had of both your teams doing so well?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't know (laughter). How did Lindy answer it?
Q. I can't tell you that.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't know. I think that he's done an excellent job there in Buffalo. Not that that matters, but they weren't talked about like Ottawa was, but yet it didn't bother them. They've done an excellent job of playing well and consistently all year. I mean, the Buffalo Sabres reached, I don't know, the fifth highest point total out of 30 teams. He had a lot of injuries there. He did it with not a lot of big names. I think he did an excellent job.
Q. Your impending free agency, has that been difficult to deal with? Are you going to worry about that when the season is over?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, to be honest, it hasn't come up, nor should it. The only thing that should be focused on right now is winning the next round against the Buffalo Sabres. The previous two rounds, this round that we have with Buffalo, then hopefully the finals as well, winning a Stanley Cup. Ultimately, that's what this year's about.
This has been a great opportunity here in Carolina. I'll certainly welcome the opportunity to talk with them. Now is not the time at all. All focus from everybody should remain on one thing and one thing only.
Q. One of your veteran players, Ray Whitney, was here in Kansas City, your thoughts on him, what he's brought to your team. What does he bring to the locker room and the ice every single day for you?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: When was Ray in Kansas City, back in 1981?
Q. Seems like it.
PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, first of all, when we were looking at people that we needed to add to our team, we were the lowest-scoring team in the league the last time we played. We needed to add some skill. To go out and sign guys like Matt Cullen and Cory Stillman, they were really welcome additions to our team for offensive purposes. Tverdovsky, Kaberle on the back end. I think the last guy that came on was Ray Whitney. I remember talking to Jim about him. He said, he's exactly what we need. We had big, strong players like Eric Staal, Brind'Amour, Justin Williams, Erik Cole. Ray for me is one of those real skill players who can work the puck in real small areas. He can make great passes. He has a great shot. He can help out on a power-play. What we thought at the time would be a really important piece to try and help us gain more offense and generate more offense. He's done an excellent job of that.
As far as personalities go, he's a quick-witted guy, well-liked, well-received in the locker room by everybody. He's been an important part of the off-ice makeup of this team as well.
DAVID KEON: Thank you, Peter.

End of FastScripts...

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