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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUES

May 20, 2016

Peter DeBoer

San Jose, California: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: It's definitely a piece. I think he had the luxury of playing behind Jonathan Quick, who is very good at it. We have the luxury of Johan Hedberg here, who is a great puck‑handling goalie when I had him in New Jersey.
That's one of the things that Johan worked with him on. We have tried to get him a lot of touches in practice. He's gotten better and better. I think he's an excellent puck‑handler now.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: Yeah, that is typical of our group. I think loose, but they work. I think that's probably the best way to describe it.
They enjoy being at the rink. It's loose but productive, I think, is probably the best way. A lot of these guys have been around each other for a long time. They enjoy each other's company. They enjoy being at the rink. They enjoy the game.
The battle this year has been to get them to get off the ice and save their energy a little bit. But they've bought into that, too. You saw Jumbo stayed out there about two and a half minutes today.
I think they understand the value of energy.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: I was here before we got Jonesy, yes.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: I spent a month with him at the World Championships. I was one of the coaches with Todd. He backed up Mike Smith. We got to spend a lot of time. After practice, he was the guy we worked with. So I got to know him as a person and as a goalie a little bit in that situation prior to us acquiring him.
At the time I didn't even know‑‑ I didn't have the San Jose job, and I didn't know he was on San Jose's radar.
I did have a little bit of a history with him, so I knew a little bit about what we were getting. But the credit there goes to the scouts that identified him on such a small body of work at the NHL level, saw the potential.
I think more importantly than saw the potential, all those guys you mentioned have physical skills. I think it's his mental ability, his composure, the attitude he brings to the rink, the way he can shake off tough moments, reset. That's the stuff that I think separates goalies. He's got that.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: It wasn't a selling point for me to get on the veterans' good side. I believe I lived it in in New Jersey. Lou Lamoriello was the guy that enlightened me that you don't have to coach just to coach, or because you feel you should be doing something, to try and get the group to the game with as much energy as possible, especially some of the older guys in the league.
Coming out here, we had a veteran team, most travel in the league. It just made sense.
Again, it was a little bit of a sell. Guys have routines at this level. They've been doing it for a long time. This group prepares as well as any group I've ever seen, to a fault. They want to be on the ice. They want to be working.
It took a little while to find that sweet spot.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: I think it's team to team. A coach's job is to reinstill belief continuously, especially when it's wavering or there isn't any. I think regardless of whether you believe it or not, that's your job.
It's a lot easier to sell if you really believe it. You mentioned some of those teams. Some of those teams, I really believed it. Some of those, nobody believed it (laughter).
But, you know, this group, I really felt it was genuine, that they could get themselves back on track quickly. We just had to reset and get back to our foundation.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: Well, I think this group hit rock bottom last summer. Missing the playoffs, coach moving on, all the things surrounding it, all the noise around the group.
I think they all went home in the summer. I've been the benefactor of them hitting rock bottom. You know, when you have good people that get to that point, they look in the mirror, they don't want to be there again. That's the group that I stepped into in training camp in September. They've just taken off.

Q. When did you know you were getting buy‑in from this group?
COACH DeBOER: I really felt buy‑in from the first meeting when I came in and took the job in the summer. I met with Jumbo, talked to Pav, through training camp with the leadership. I think there was buy‑in.
Again, it wasn't as much buy‑in of what I was selling. It was buy‑in into the fact that, We're embarrassed about what happened last year, we want to get it fixed. If you can help us do that, we're all in.
When you have a group like that, it's easy.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: Well, I think young players all need to learn how to win at the NHL level, regardless of what you've done anywhere else in any other league. It's not the same.
I can only speak about our group. I can't speak about Hitch's group.
The benefit our young guys have is they have veterans around them that show them the way on a daily basis. I think that's a real advantage to the Hertls, Tierneys, Donskois, they're surrounded by those type of people.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH DeBOER: Johan Hedberg has a report on both goalies. Both excellent goalies. It's pick your poison. We'll deal with whoever they throw in net. Just have to concentrate on our game.
Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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