Teubert interview

Colten Teubert wasn’t on the ice for today’s development camp, and when I went to shake his hand, I found out why. Teubert has a soft cast on his right hand/wrist, the product of a broken bone he suffered late in the season while playing for the Ontario Reign. Teubert hasn’t had the easiest of times since being drafted by the Kings No. 13 overall in 2008. His offensive numbers improved considerably during his last two years of junior hockey, but after each, he was assigned to the ECHL instead of the AHL. Now, with even more defenseman in the system, Teubert’s challenge doesn’t get any easier. Here’s what Teubert had to say today…

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Question: What happened to the hand?

TEUBERT: “I got hurt in Ontario. They misdiagnosed it, and I had to get the surgery done.”

Question: Are you off the ice totally? What kind of work can you do?

TEUBERT: “I haven’t been on the ice yet. I’ve been working out on my lower body, and the left side of my body, so I’m staying fit and in shape and hopefully everything heals well and I’m back to 100 percent soon.”

Question: A little frustrating, I’d imagine?

TEUBERT: “Yeah, it’s frustrating. I haven’t been through this type of adversity in my career yet, but I think it’s going to be a challenge for me and really test my mind and my physical training, to see how well I can stay conditioned and keep my head in the game.”

Question: Are you expecting to be ready for training camp?

TEUBERT: “I’m expecting to. I’m not 100-percent sure what’s going to happen. I just saw the doctor today, and I’m going to have this (cast) on for a bit longer. As long as I do the right things, I think it will give me an opportunity to be healthy at training camp.”

Question: What exactly is the injury?

TEUBERT: “I broke my scaphiod. It was a third-degree fracture, so I just got a screw and got that replaced. That’s been about four weeks now.”

Question: Do you know how you hurt it?

TEUBERT: “I hurt my hand in Ontario, and I wasn’t sure that I had hurt it. I got x-rays, and the x-rays came back negative but I still had pain. So I played the rest of the season. I didn”t really realize that it was broken until about seven weeks later, after I had already been training. It was just one of those bad-luck things. I just thought, you know, `Be tough,’ and it just kind of bit me in the back.”

Question: How do you feel like you’ve developed over the last year?

TEUBERT: “I feel good. Physically, I’m getting a lot stronger, and with Tim’s workouts we’re really stressing the lunges. I think my lower body is getting a lot stronger too, because I have this hand injury right now. I’m just hoping that I can come into camp in tip-top shape and just get an opportunity to show what I can do, and move into the pro ranks.”

Question: When there are so many defensive prospects in the system, is that motivating to you, or challenging, or both?

TEUBERT: “I think it’s both. I think it’s motivating and challenging. You look at the quality players they have in the defense corps, with us just drafting a first-round D-man too, and we’re definitely looking to build defense first. With the success that Manchester had last year, it just shows that drafting D–men and having good, solid D really helps both teams, especially with the Kings.”

Question: When you see them draft a defenseman, does it concern you about where you stand with the team?

TEUBERT: “I mean, that’s their decision to make. I’m going to do whatever it takes to stay up on top. I know we’re all a team in this organization here, but individually, I want to be the best and I want to play in the NHL one day, so I’m going to do whatever it takes to do that. With that, with them drafting other players, it just sets a real challenging environment and it makes it really competitive to play on this team in the future.”

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