September 26 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On Dustin Brown’s assessment that he’ll be ready for opening day, and whether Thursday’s practice represented a step forward:
Yeah. I mean, every day is a step forward. I just haven’t talked to [Head Athletic Trainer Chris Kingsley] yet, so we’ll just wait. It’s still two days away.

On Jake Muzzin:
Muzzin will travel with us, and we’ll just see. He won’t play tomorrow, but we’ll see on Saturday.

On what he’s looking for from Pearson, Vey and Toffoli this weekend:
No, get ‘em in a game. I mean, they’ve had good camps. I haven’t been dissatisfied with any of the guys that are still here. Even the boys that went yesterday – Forbort and Shore, for boys that came out of school and had to put the work in this summer in terms of what was expected, they did a really, really good job. Both of them.

On the nature of the discussions with players that are reassigned:
Those two guys are first-year pros. Learn to be good pros. It’s not many guys that go right to the NHL without at least two years in the American League. That’s a good thing. Obviously they’re disappointed on being sent down, but not disappointed at anything else.

On Keaton Ellerby and Jeff Schultz:
Keaton’s had a great camp. Very, very good. And I think Jeff’s been a guy that’s had to adjust to how we play, and I said it before. It’s not easy for a player to come from the east to the west, first off, and then to adjust there’s big adjustments between teams. Not just in getting to know players, but big adjustments in terms of style of play, in terms of responsibilities in certain parts of the game where we expect. [Reporter; It’s almost what you said about Keaton last year, really. It’s almost the same thing coming over from Florida.] Yep. Real similar. Keaton has been a guy, though, that quietly – even last year – he can play left side and right side, and he’s an important guy. I think it’s probably been on record where we’ve said how many guys we’re going to need. Obviously we can’t play them all, but at the same time they’re important players on our team.

On whether the team is where he wants it to be:
We’re where we want to be. I think camp broke up in terms of preseason how we could break camp into almost three different stages, so the game with Anaheim the other night, and now these two again on the road are sort of the final part of our camp, so yeah, we’re real happy with camp.

On his preseason plan for Jonathan Quick, and whether he’ll play in Las Vegas:
That didn’t change. Go into camp with a plan for your goaltender and then minutes you want him to play. [Reporter: Any idea of which game he’ll play?]He’s playing tomorrow. [Reporter: How about on Saturday?] He’s not playing Saturday. [Reporter: Is there a plan of who will play Saturday?] No. Two guys are here. Either both of them are going to play, or one of them is going to play. He needed two full games and two periods of another game, and he’s sharp. So he’ll be ready. He just needs the game condition, and one more game is good for him.

On the chances of Dustin Brown playing on opening night:
Well, as long as we continue to go forward, he will be. [Reporter: If all goes well?] Yeah.

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