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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUES

May 17, 2016

Peter DeBoer

St. Louis, Missouri: Game Two

Q. Chris Tierney, first taste of playoff hockey. How do you think he's managed it so far through this point?
COACH DeBOER: I think he's been great. Throwing a lot of responsibility at him, a lot of challenges at him. You look at some of the teams we've played, some of the matchups he's had to deal with, he's risen to all of the occasions we've presented him.
I think he's been great.

Q. I want to ask you about Martin Jones. When you were in Prague, you were part of the Team Canada stuff. How much were you looking at him and watching him, doing some advanced scouting?
COACH DeBOER: Not at all actually. I didn't have a San Jose job at the time. That trade hadn't been made yet. It was nice after I got the job, got to know him. We made the trade.
I spent three or four weeks for him. Him being the backup goalie, we got to spend a lot of time together at the end of practice working on stuff, because Mike Smith played most of the games.
Just got to know him as a person, what a quality guy he is.

Q. How do you think Karlsson is doing in his first playoffs?
COACH DeBOER: Melker has been great, too. We've got a lot of young guys we've asked to do a lot, put in big roles, big responsibilities. They've all shown up and played hard and answered the bell, and I think answered a lot of questions regarding our depth.
I think they've been exceptional. I think we wouldn't be here without all those guys, Tierney, Karlsson, et cetera.

Q. Johan Hedberg, how much influence has he had on Martin Jones' development?
COACH DeBOER: Heady was a key hire for me. He was one of the first guys I called Doug Wilson about when I took the job. I coached him in New Jersey. I felt even then as a player, he would have made an exceptional coach. Communicator, great in the room, everybody liked him.
I also thought he had a really good hockey mind. He was one of those goalies that he understood all our systems. It wasn't just about him stopping the puck. He knew what we were trying to do as a team, could explain all our systems to you as well as any of our forwards or defensemen.
I really felt there was some coaching potential there when I was coaching him. I actually talked to him about that on his way out after retirement, not foreseeing the fact we may work together one day.
It was one of the first names that popped in my head when I got the job. It worked. He was available and interested. He's been a big part of our goaltending this year. It's been a real strength, whereas in the past maybe it hasn't been.

Q. Is Steve Ott just one of those guys that is different to oppose in a playoff series as opposed to one game at a time in the regular season? Is that just his nature?
COACH DeBOER: Otter, I got tremendous respect for him. I've coached him before. Coached against him since he was 16. He's earned his way into this league. He plays a tough role. He tries to have an effect in every game.
He's not an easy guy to play against. I think he's made a great career for himself out of doing that.

Q. What has been the biggest thing that Joel Ward has brought to this group?
COACH DeBOER: Joel, when I took the job, we talked about personnel. Doug and I were both on the same page about some of the things we were missing, and that was playoff‑type players on the ice, heavy, hard guys that could rise to the occasion at that time of year, at tough times. Joel has had a history of doing that.
But also we wanted the right fit personality‑wise. We got a really good group. They get along. It was important, whoever we brought in, fit.
Again, I spent three weeks with Joel at a World Championships, known him for a long time. He checked all the boxes for us in both departments. He was right at the top of our list in free agency because of that.

Q. Could you take me back to your first meeting with Brent Burns. Are you feeling him out? Did you know right away, You're a defenseman? Was that a process?
COACH DeBOER: Well, again, Burnsy is an Ontario League guy. I've known him for a long time. I can't remember the first time, maybe an All‑Star Game in junior. For sure at a couple World Championships we did together. I'd known him quite a while prior to taking the job.
I saw him last year go to the World Championships, and amongst all the best guys in the world, outside of the final four or eight teams playing in the NHL at the time, be the best defenseman in the tournament, head and shoulders the best defenseman in the tournament, and was named that.
In my mind, there was no question he was going to be a defenseman, and that game would translate to the NHL.
The only reason there ever has been a question is because he's one of those rare guys that could be an All‑Star as a winger. You can count the number of guys probably in history that could do that in one hand. Otherwise this wouldn't even be a question, is he a defenseman or a forward.
He's just that exceptional an athlete that he happens to fall into that category. Bo Jackson, is he a football player or baseball player? He's that exceptional a guy.

Q. Strikes me as a guy, I have the coach's trust, the encouragement, and he thrives on that. I know he trusts me to do my thing. Is that an accurate perception?
COACH DeBOER: It's a tough position to learn. I think it's a tough position to flip‑flop back and forth from. There's so many subtleties to the defense position. I think he's appreciated the fact that he knows every night he's going out there as a defenseman. I think that's helped his game.

Q. How good is Marc Vlasic? How well does he embrace sometimes the thankless role of going out against the other team's best players?
COACH DeBOER: Marc‑Edouard is just an exceptional hockey player. I didn't know a lot about him. I think the fact that he's one of the first four defenseman named to Team Canada should scream to everybody how good this guy is.
But for some reason, it doesn't. You really have to watch him to appreciate how good night in, night out he is. He's just one of those guys that every night he can go through a whole game without making a mistake.
We rewatch the video after every game. It's amazing, you know, how many nights I'll walk out after a second viewing of a game and realize, That guy touched the puck 50 times and didn't make a mistake. That's so rare.

Q. You suggested yesterday you're not planning to make any adjustments to the lineup. What are some advantages to having Marleau up on the wing in this particular matchup?
COACH DeBOER: Well, again, you're splitting hairs. Patrick Marleau in our lineup makes us a better team, whether he's at wing or center. Those are things that we discuss as a coaching staff on a daily basis. Just like line combinations.
He's a world‑class player. He's in our lineup. Right now he's on wing. We think that's the best place for him to help us right now.

Q. Update on Nieto? How did he come out of the skate? Is he getting closer?
COACH DeBOER: He's not playing today. The fact he's on the ice every day, he's getting better. He'll be day‑to‑day. We'll keep evaluating him.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: Day‑to‑day.
Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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