January 6 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

With cameras for NBCSN’s NHL Revealed at the facility, Darryl Sutter covered a variety of topics following the Kings’ practice at Toyota Sports Center on Monday.

On whether any additional details of Jonathan Quick’s performance were revealed in video:
No, I saw it live. Live and in Technicolor, I saw it. My concern was game fatigue. I want him to get off to a good start. I said that after the game. Both he and Luongo were off for a period of time. Both guys were really sharp, so then it’s game fatigue, and then with the two days off, how he’d feel the day off.

On whether Monday was the first day that there were cameras around the facility.
No, we did it in… [Reporter: It was on the road?] Yeah. [Reporter: Are they going to be at your house?] It’s 40 below there.

On whether he watched the Winter Classic:
You bet. [Reporter: What’d you think?] I was very impressed with the whole production part of it – the players’ performance…it was very impressive. Just basically that’s how we played when we were young kids. The ice is always good when it’s cold. Your feet get cold. When it snows, you’ve got to manage around it a little bit.

On his choice of hat behind the Kings’ bench for the Stadium Series game:
Shouldn’t need one, should I? [Reporter: Sunglasses, right?] No, I don’t think so. It’s a 6:30 game. It starts at 6:30 at night. [Reporter: It could be 45.] Temperature should be perfect. Basically, the temperature, when you look at it, we have a 6:30 start. When I walk in the building at four in the afternoon, the building is low-60, above. That’s the same as the game when you look at it, right? And the building warms up as the games go on. My only concern in the whole thing – only concern – is ice conditions, right? Because you’re not going to be able to, if you look at the outdoor classic just played, they were on that surface for how many days. So you knew what the ice was going to be like. You knew what the boards were going to be like, all that stuff. That would be our concern. We get up there for 45 minutes the night before. You know what? So they haven’t skated on it. Nobody’s skated on it until us and the Ducks do. That whole part of it, that would be my only concern, the ice surface. [Reporter: So you’re limited to 45 minutes the day before, more or less?] I mean, we’re not doing it for show. We’re doing it because we’ve got to play on it in 24 hours. So you’re trying to get your guys ready.

On whether the team will have to swap ends to contend with the wind:
I’m assuming it wasn’t just wind. It was sun, all that. I mean, they didn’t just swap ends. Remember, they also used the same end. Shootouts – the same end. So it’s not just swapping ends. It’s using the same end, too, if it came to a shootout. That’s based on conditions.

On whether players’ families and kids will be able to get on the ice:
Well, hopefully we can, but you can’t do it ‘til after a certain time, so that’s our plan. We want to do that. The game itself will be great. The problem is we’re coming home from a trip, and we’re playing in Anaheim, and neither team can skate ‘til the night before the game. We leave the next day to go on the road again. It’s a little different than the Winter Classic. Obviously that’s a production. That’s a five-or-six-day. This is ‘you guys are supposed to give us a Grade-A performance, and here, skate on it the night before and get on the road again.’

On the comment by Mike Gillis that “It’s not a surprise when players run the goalie, the goalie is going to get hurt”:
Well, good for Mike Gillis to say that…Quite honest, if you just asked about Jonathan Quick, how Jonathan Quick looked in video? Roberto Luongo looked great in video, too. Played a hell of a game. That goal, [that] shot was on a rebound that came right here. The player was going to the net, shot it into the net, tried to go over Roberto Luongo. That’s wonderful that they would quote that. Quite honest, that’s [road apples]. It is. It’s [road apples]. Don’t get me going on it.

On Jeff Carter’s chances of being named to Team Canada:
I coach Jeff. I want him to make it. I think he’s deserving of it. That would be my assessment of it all. I mean, he was the leading goal scorer in the Western Conference, and this year with missing probably on a goals per game, he’s probably right up there in the league, so if you do that based on 48 games, you do that based on playoffs, and you do it based on this year, based on games played, he’s deserving of that, for sure. That’s not the whole thing. It’s the body of work that they have to put in…it complements each other. There’s not going to be right-or-wrong decision. They’re going to be ones that justify it for your team, and that’s it. It’s not good-or-bad. Because they’re your own, you want them to make it. I want Drew to make it, obviously. I want Jeff to make it, obviously. I want Mike to make it, obviously. I wanted Jonathan to make it. I wanted Brownie to make it. As I said, I wanted Lewie to have a good start to the year because he went to the camp this summer, so you want for the committee to look at it closer. That’s what you want. You want Slava to make it. You knew Kopi was going to make it. That’s what you want. You want them guys to be rewarded, and you want them to have success.

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