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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: DUCKS VS PREDATORSMay 11, 2017Peter LavioletteDavid PolieAnaheim, California - Practice Day Q. David, can you reflect on the first conference championship in franchise history, being here today, what this means to you? DAVID POLIE: Well, for so many reasons, our team, our franchise, our city. I've been in Nashville almost 20 years, and when we started probably there was a lot of people that weren't sure whether Nashville was going to succeed. They've been called a non-traditional hockey market, and we did have some ups and downs. We went through a third ownership group, if you will, and that instability certainly didn't help in our early years, but when I was asked what the turning point in the franchise was, I said it was the new ownership group, a local group. They had always Nashville in mind. There was no thought ever to move the franchise, and they certainly made all the right moves, both on the hockey side, giving me the tools I needed to do my job, and on the business side to make sure we had the support. I think anybody that's been to a Predators game the last couple years, they've seen we've been taking clear steps on and off the ice to be better and better, to the point where we sold out all of our games this year, and as far as I'm concerned hands down, our arena, our fans, the entertainment value you get coming to a Predators game is second to none. If you haven't seen a game in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, you should put it on your bucket list because it's phenomenal right now. Our town is on fire in terms of their support for the Predators, and it's just really good right now to be where we are and have this opportunity. Q. David, when in your mind did it turn from non-traditional to a traditional hockey market? DAVID POLIE: Yeah, I think in the last few years. Again, we actually, I thought, did a decent job as an expansion team getting it to a good point, and that was I think about eight years in we had like the third best record in the league, and unfortunately, the original owner, who did a great job, decided he wanted to go in a different direction, and because of that we were kind of in a non-compete mode there for a couple years, letting a lot of good players go like Tomas Vokoun, Danny Hahn (phonetic), Alex Killorn, Paul Kariya, Peter Forsberg last year, so that kind of sent us downhill a little bit, but I think after that, as I said earlier, each year we've been a little bit better under this new ownership group, both on the ice and on the business side, and I like where we are with our franchise right now. Q. Peter, with Anaheim as an opponent, what specific challenges do they pose to your club here? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Lots of challenges. You know, I guess in the short-term going down the stretch of the regular season into the Playoffs, probably a top one or two team in the league just on record alone. But they play a big game. They have plenty of skill inside of that big game. That makes it a challenging 200-foot game. But there's lots of things that they do that make them who they are, and the success they had down the stretch, I think, speaks to that. Q. How would you say that you've maybe changed (indiscernible) or system since '06? PETER LAVIOLETTE: That's a long time ago. I think a lot of things stayed the same, a lot of the systems, probably a lot of the communications. I think you're constantly learning about the game, you're learning about your team, so there's always change that goes on inside of that. But I think from a foundation, a lot of it has stayed the same, probably even before that, since I started coaching just at the Leafs, my thought process on how the game should be played. But from then there's been a lot of learning and a lot of ups and a lot of downs, and I think you constantly grow and evolve from that. Q. As you look at what you've done with the third and fourth forward lines, what do you think has allowed you to be so successful in finding the right match-ups? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, it's changed. I think our two opponents were completely different. We had to prepare that way and prepare the lineup that way and coach that way. It's not easy. Some guys always -- all players at this level, they want to be in the lineup, and when you have to make those changes, it's not easy. But just based on what the coaching staff felt that we needed inside of those games, any changes inside of the series, but the Chicago series was nothing like the St. Louis series, and neither one of them are going to be quite like the Anaheim series. So we've gotten tremendous use out of our players, out of the depth of our lineup. Players have come in and contributed in different ways, and they've factored into the games. They haven't just come in and been a part of it, they've been difference makers inside of the lineup. Really that's what you need to get that balance throughout the attack, and our guys have done a good job with that, the forward lines especially. Q. Peter, have you had a chance to get a look at how Ryan Getzlaf has been playing this post-season, and what are the challenges of taking on a player at that level right now? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, I've seen some of what he's done post-season, obviously watching things yesterday and today, the games that we were able to see. But more than that, I think just seeing him on a regular basis, through the regular season and what he's done in the past and in the post-season. He's a terrific hockey player. He's big. He's strong. He plays both ends of the ice. He can skate. He's powerful, can shoot pucks and make plays. Outside of that, he's a good leader for their team. There's not a lot that he doesn't do. He's playing very well right now. We'll have to make sure that we can defend well. I think our guys have done a pretty good job through the first two rounds of playing good defense, good team defense, and we played against some good players, and we'll try to continue that. Q. What impresses you about Kesler and their defensive concept? PETER LAVIOLETTE: I mean, just knowing him with USA Hockey and knowing a little bit more what he's capable of, he's a good two-way centerman. I think he's the type of player that really thrives in his role. He's good at his role. I think our guys know that, as well. Everybody knows it. You know, it's not a secret. I mean, again, I think our guys will have to make sure that we're doing the right things out there against him. Most likely there will be some sort of a Johansen line combination against him. I think that Ryan's line has done a good job playing against different sorts of lines, whether it be a top line, whether it be a checking line or whether it be the number one, two pair of defensemen that are on the ice and they have still found ways to create. They're playing really well right now, so we're aware of the way that Ryan plays the game, and we'll do our best to put our best foot forward with regard to our game. Q. David, what has Ryan Ellis done in the last couple years, what has he done to become this elite defender we're seeing right now? DAVID POLIE: Well, I think we've known for a while how good he is and what he can do. He just played a little bit under the radar on a team that had a really good defense behind guys like Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, and then Josi, so we've had some really good guys. We've been in a situation where we've made two significant trades in just a little over a year, traded Shea Weber, captain of our team, Norris Trophy finalist and Seth Jones, one of the best up and coming defensemen in the league, and the only way we were able to do is because we had Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm, Roman Josi, obviously traded Shea Weber for PK Subban. When we made the trades, we didn't have those guys. We had the confidence and the knowledge that they could do it, and Ryan has just gotten better and better over the last two or three years, and coach uses him in every situation, plays very high minutes, and they all do approximately the same thing. So it's a good situation for us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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