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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKSJune 14, 2011Mike GillisAlain VigneaultVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Mike Gillis and Coach Vigneault. Q. Mike, your thoughts on the Boychuk hit on Mason and any discussion you had with the league about that? MIKE GILLIS: I haven't had any discussion with them after last night. All I can tell you is my observations of the hit. I didn't see the puck around him. I thought the Boston player used a can opener and drove him into the boards with enough force to break his back. That's what I saw. I don't have much more to say about that other than that observation. Q. Mike, given that, then, and given the suspension earlier to Aaron Rome and the heavy hand the league brought down, are you expecting any kind of supplementary discipline, and if there isn't, will you be disappointed that there isn't? MIKE GILLIS: I'm not in charge of supplementary discipline, so I'm not the right person to ask about that. I think when you see the severity of that injury, the way our doctors described it to me, very, very dangerous, and, you know, I'm always disappointed when you see any player get injured. I was asking Lawrence when the last time we saw a broken back occur in the NHL. I can't recall it other than an incident here a number of years ago. But it wasn't a chipped vertebrae or cracked vertebrae. It's broken through the belly of his vertebrae, so it's a very serious injury. You never want to see any player on any team have an injury like that. Q. Mike, have you been frustrated with the natures of the calls and the way the games have been called up to this point in time? MIKE GILLIS: That's a question I don't think I can answer without getting myself into trouble under any circumstances, so I'm not going to answer that. It isn't right for me to speculate or to comment on officiating. Q. Can you give us the prognosis? Is he in danger of not being able to walk? MIKE GILLIS: Initially there was some very serious concern about that. He did move after he had been on the ice for a period of time. He began to move his legs and I know when he got to the hospital they were very concerned. If we get Mason Raymond back by November of next year, we will be very happy. Q. I was wondering why it was that he was not taken off on a stretcher? MIKE GILLIS: I don't know why. I'm unsure. I think because he began to move his feet and he had feeling. We wondered about that as well, but I haven't had the chance to ask Mike. But our trainers are excellent trainers, so I'm sure they felt there was no risk at that point because of what he was saying and what he was doing on the ice. Q. I know you're not going to tell me specifically what's going on, but can you give us a general idea of how many of your players are playing at substandard health, maybe if it was Game 42 they might take the night off? COACH VIGNEAULT: Everybody is fine, telling you that since the start of the playoffs. This is the best time of the year. I know we're looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow. It's a great opportunity, it's an honor to be able to play a 7th game in the Stanley Cup finals, and everybody that's available is going to play at 100%. Q. Mike, what is your opinion of the call against Henrik, the diving call with Chara, and do you think and he and Daniel are being accorded the respect that elite players often get from officials? MIKE GILLIS: I know the respect I have for those two players as people first and as players, and that's all that matters to me. I can't think for other people and try and figure out how they're making decisions. All I do is evaluate people based on what I know. I have the highest regard for them. If someone else doesn't, I would have issue with that, but for me I have the highest regard for them. Q. Is he still in the hospital? Has he been released? MIKE GILLIS: No, we tried to delay our flight as long as we could today to try and see if we could get him home, but they weren't going to release him until he was stable. They had designed a corset for him to be able to wear to be able to get out of the hospital and travel safely. That hadn't happened and we had to leave. So we haven't had an update. My presumption is that he is still in the hospital and will be there at least until tomorrow or the following day. But I'm unsure at this point. Q. Coach, the loss of Mason Raymond a huge rallying point especially since he won't be in the building with the team tomorrow? COACH VIGNEAULT: For us, injuries and adversity have been part of our daily routine throughout this season and we faced every one of them head on. It's very unfortunate for Mason not to be able to play in the seventh game, but the guys that we have available are going to jump on the opportunity. We worked all year long to get home ice, to play in front of these great fans, to feed off their energy and that's what we're gettin' tomorrow. I think our home record is petty good, too. Q. Mike, just wondering if you know in terms of what is next for Mason? Is there a possible surgery? What do the next few months hold for him in terms of recovery? MIKE GILLIS: We're not sure, we're hopeful there won't be surgery at this point. Like I said, it's a severe injury and we'll know more over the next week when he gets back here. At this point they're hopeful that it won't require surgery, that it has the opportunity to heal on its own. He's going to face a long, hard recovery. We've been told it's going to be very challenging for him and he's going to be in a difficult position for some time. Like I said, we're hopeful if we can get him back by November, I think that would be a win for us. Q. Mike, in the Horton case, the NHL looked at the medical records before making a decision. Did the league ask for your medical records in Mason's case to look at it the same sort of way when they made their justification on the suspension for Aaron Rome? MIKE GILLIS: No. Q. Coach, is there any chance that any of the players who have been out may be able to return for the game tomorrow? COACH VIGNEAULT: Some possibility. We'll know more tomorrow. Q. Alain, Edler and Alberts, will they be playing tomorrow? COACH VIGNEAULT: They'll be fine. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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