On whether waiting four full days between games was like “standing over your golf shot”:
No. I can’t really equate standing over a golf shot to playing a hockey game.
On Buffalo “struggling” set against Ryan Miller’s Olympic aspirations:
I don’t think the team has struggled. I think Ryan Miller has struggled. I think he just won his first game. I think he was 0-and-10. I don’t think the team has struggled.
(ed: Miller is 2-10-0, with both wins coming in shootouts)
On Jarret Stoll getting onto the ice, and his progress:
That’s the first time he’s skated. Once he starts skating with the team, then we’ll get a better read on him. [Reporter: Had he been bothered a few weeks beforehand, or was it something that just kind of just crept up in the last few days?] The last two games that he played.
On Scott Niedermayer going into the Hall of Fame, and what stood out about him:
Well, I coached against him, but I’d rather talk about the guy that I coached that is going in, Chris Chelios. I mean, I coached against Scott for a long time. Obviously he’s a great player. He’s won championships, he’s a captain, he’s a guy that when he went out, he was still on the top of his game. When he came in he was on top of his game. He played in two great organizations, two different Stanley Cups, which meant he was a huge part of the culture of both teams. Good player.
On how to game plan against “a guy like Lidstrom or Niedermayer”:
The reason that Scott Niedermayer’s going in the Hall of Fame – he [wasn’t just] a great scorer. Great offensive player, great defensive player, guy who played lots of minutes. So how do you defend against him? Just the same way you defend against every top defenseman, which the game is now, there are at least one or two defensemen on every team that are similar-type players. So we’ve done a pretty good job of being able to defend against those guys. You’ve just got to know when they’re on the ice and manage their space.
On Niedermayer’s attributes that he sees in Drew Doughty:
They play both ends of the ice. They both really skate. They both can play against top players. They’re both good on the power play. Drew, as he evolves, will become the type of penalty killer that Scotty was. Very similar players, actually. Lefty-righty.
On Chris Chelios being inducted into the Hall of Fame:
It’s probably similar to Scott. Won championships two different places. Won Norrises two different places. Played a different type of game in terms of the physical part of it. Biggest adjustment – probably went from being a high penalty minute guy to a low penalty minute guy. Great situation guy, great captain. [Reporter: The love of the game kept him going well into his 40’s.] If somebody would’ve let him, he still would’ve been playing. That’s the best part about him…It’s a lesson for a lot of athletes in today’s game. Throw a quarter out on that ice, he’s going to fight for that quarter.
For more on Sutter’s comments about Scott Niedermayer, follow Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker on Twitter.
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