Darryl Sutter Pre-Game Quotes

On what he expects from Simon Gagne: “Little more spirit in his game and a little more pace.  And hopefully not have to re-evaluate it.”

On Dustin Penner: “Dustin is close.  Him and Simon are sort of in the same siutation.  Dustin is in a really good place mentally.  We can’t use games as preseason games.  He’s close, so I just want him to get his game pace to where it’s got to be.”

On the team overall: “I liked our game in Edmonton.  I liked it for the most part in Colorado, so that means we should be getting there.   We got a really young defense and we need the pace of our forwards to be a hell of a lot better to help them out.  It’s not hard to figure out.  It’s nothing more than that.”

On Willie Mitchell’s status: “He’s got to push through it.  That’s what got to happen.”

On the power play: “We’re not getting enough shots.  We’re getting good looks, but more [shots] is better for your percentages.  We’ve done a lot of work the last couple of days talking to players, doing video.   We hit three posts in Edmonton, but still that’s not a shot on goal.  We’re playing those three young kids on the power play, so it’s a learning curve for them.  Muzzin, Voynov and Martinez are playing on the power play for good reason because they have good shots and they have a good skill set.  But they got to shoot the puck more.  They can be so respectful of Kopitar, Carter and Williams that they want to give them the puck.   They [need] to get the puck and pound it.  If it hits one of [the forwards] and goes in then so be it.   That’s what you want.”

On Davis Drewiske: “We need Davis to replace Greener.  Play the right side and replace Greener.  That’s where he is in the organization and that’s where he’s played and that’s what he’s capable of is that type of player.  That’s what he’s capable of and we’re going to work with him to do that.”