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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCEMay 10, 2012Darryl SutterTHE MODERATOR: With us now we have Los Angeles Kings head coach Darryl Sutter who led the Kings to 8th place in the Western Conference with 95 points on a record of 40‑27‑15. Los Angeles defeated No. 1 seed Vancouver in five games in the first round, followed by a four‑game sweep of the second seeded St. Louis Blues, moving them into the Conference Final for the first time since 1993. Thanks to Darryl for his time today. Q. How nice was it to finally get a date to know when you're going to start the series? You wind up being off for a week before you drop the puck on Sunday. DARRYL SUTTER: Well, the last series we were six days also. Until the last two days we weren't sure of our schedule either. So, you know what, players are anxious obviously, and prefer to play sooner than later, I think. Q. How much of a balance is there? Obviously this time of year everyone puts in maximum effort, and you want to get a chance to lick your wounds. But where is the balance between getting rest and getting stale? DARRYL SUTTER: Well, we gave everybody two days, so that cut into it. We've had two days of practice, and I don't think anybody gets stale. Some guys are still very much in recovery mode from injuries. So the more you can get them, the better you are. Q. You also get a break with a lot less travel than you would have had if Nashville had won the second round? DARRYL SUTTER: Well, I thought that was one of the breaks of playing in the Western Conference. We got a little bit of less travel like the East. Q. Well, short of Anaheim, that's about the easiest one you could have gotten. DARRYL SUTTER: God bless Los Angeles and Phoenix. Q. Ron said the other day to me that he was more surprised with the lack of success your team had in the regular season than with the success it's had in the playoffs. Could you address that? DARRYL SUTTER: You know, I was only here half the year, so I really can't. It's two totally different seasons. The biggest issue that everybody in hockey always has to come to grips with is how difficult it is just to be a Playoff team. You put expectations on a regular season, false expectations, and it usually falls apart because of injuries and personnel changes and maybe subpar performances by individuals. But the record is very, very difficult to be a playoff team. It's that simple. When you put expectations on a young group, you're probably putting yourselves in a position to have a hard time. Q. How does Dustin Brown stack up as a captain leader since you had Jarome Iginla in Calgary? And another thing is what have you done to Dustin Penner so things are going good? DARRYL SUTTER: I think the first one, the guys talked about Brownie and Jarome a lot. But the big difference when I went to Calgary with Jarome, Jarome was already a Hart Trophy winner in a scoring race, and he had won all the major awards. That is significant. There is a big difference in terms of Jarome Iginla is a 50‑goal score over and over. Other than that, the big difference is strictly in staff. In terms of personality and character and what they bring, there are real similarities. Dustin Penner, I think very clearly he's had a lot going. This is right now a window and a breath of fresh air for him. Hopefully he can continue to do that. Q. Dustin Brown again, it seems his strength and his last shift, his style of game doesn't seem to change from shift to shift. He's out there to either run you into the boards or make something happen. DARRYL SUTTER: Brownie? When he get as way from that, he's not very effective and we see those things happen too during games. You look at the last series we played. In Game 3 didn't have a shot, and he wasn't quite as effective, but he was still finishing checks. When you can remember the basics of your game always and remember what got you there, then you can be effective during the playoffs. I bet that's why he's had some success. But he's excited about it. He hasn't played in very many playoff games until now. So, you know what, he's thriving on that, and he's done a really good job. Q. There is a little bit of intensity and a little rivalry between you guys and Phoenix. I think it was your second to last game this year there were three or four fights and some pretty rough hits. Can you kind of talk about that rivalry for me? DARRYL SUTTER: First off, there isn't much fighting in playoff hockey. Somebody made a comment today about there have been 17 so far in the playoffs, and they were going to do a "Sports Illustrated" spread on it. But in 1987 there had already been 70 fights. So there is not that much fighting. As far as a rivalry goes, I haven't been much a part of that. It's the same division, but quite honestly neither team has had‑‑ you know, you only get good rivalries in playoff time is what you see in today's game, just because of the regular season schedule and the travel and the injuries and everything that goes on. I don't think there is a rivalry until the playoffs. The intensity of it, if you saw it in one game for two or three minutes, I think it doesn't have as much bearing on playoffs, and then it comes up to the top players. We talked about Dustin Brown and players like that, it becomes up to them to create a rivalry based on how hard they play against each other. Q. Do you think that's just because guys are afraid to get injured in the playoffs do you think that will hold true here with Phoenix, not much fighting? DARRYL SUTTER: I don't think it has to do with Phoenix and Los Angeles. It's just the way it works. How many games have been played in the playoffs? I think they said there were 17. I think it's irrelevant. There is nothing to do with this series at all.  Neither team is a team that guys are just out there to fight. It's got no bearing on this series at all. Q. This will be a big change based on the Coyotes. You guys weren't expected to get past the Canucks. The Blues were expected to be a bigger challenge by most, and you swept them. Finally the feeling is you guys will not be the underdog in this series. Do you think you've earned the league's respect are or are the Coyotes not getting enough? DARRYL SUTTER: I think a little bit of both. I look, Phoenix won the division; we finished close to them. Doesn't really matter. They get the extra game at home. That makes them the favorite. Other than that, it doesn't really matter. Q. Your Calgary Flames team in '04 you had a hell of a goalie in Kiprusoff and a really good team. Are there any comparisons between the Calgary team then and this L.A. team? DARRYL SUTTER: I think there are. I said that a lot about the Phoenix team and our team is the goaltending. Both are similar to that team back then. Our team in Calgary was more of a veteran role player group. You get Kopitar, Richards, Stoll and Fraser on this team, and that's a pretty good group of centermen. You look at the role players and the centermen that did such an awesome job in '04. That is (Indiscernible), Craig Conroy, Marcus Nielsen. Guys like that. So there is a big difference in the caliber of player, I think. I think they all have the same focus, and they're really that sort of thing is kind of a chance, one shot at it sort of thing for a lot of guys, so that's good. That I think is the biggest comparison. Q. Has Quick got some of the same characteristics as Skipper? DARRYL SUTTER: I think they play a lot the same way in their styles. It's a little bit different than other guys. Same practice habits, both have real similar work ethics, both have the same demeanor in the locker room, but there are real similarities between these two guys. Q. If something ever happens to Jonathan Quick, would you guys be as confident with Jonathan Bernier in there? DARRYL SUTTER: Absolutely. He's next in line. Then there is Ron Hextall and Billy Ranford. Both guys won Conn Smythe's, and he's got his work cut out for him. Q. Can you talk about Slava Voynov since he's come in to fill in for Jack Johnson and what he's brought for you guys? DARRYL SUTTER: He brings in a good skill set. We knew that when we brought him back up from the American League. He's got the skating ability and the shooting ability and the ability to see the ice really well. I think he's done a really good job of being able to adapt and play against where you're not spotting him against certain players where he has to play against top lines. He's done a really good job of that. You know what? He's a young guy with experience that's come on him in a hurry, and he's handled it really well. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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