April 1 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On Monday’s loss to Minnesota:
I thought we were really flat. I think it caught up a little bit with us. We played good enough to win, good enough to lose. We weren’t sharp early, and that was the difference in the game. [Reporter: Was it a combination of you being flat and playing a desperate hockey team?] I think there really wasn’t much opportunity either way. They scored on opportunities, and we didn’t. We could’ve easily said we won 3-2 or 2-1 and they’d have been saying the same thing. Again, we’re in a tough part of our schedule. I mean, doing it again. We’re right into back-to-backs, and I mean, this is…six in eight, and we play seven in nine, whatever it is. We just kind of got our X and O right, and you need that little push, that little advantage, and that’s where last night some of our younger guys that have to bring some energy and do a little bit more in games like that didn’t.

On having an open dialogue with the players:
Yeah, but you have to have relationships. It’s the biggest difference in the game. You still have to know when to keep your distance, but at the same time, as teams get younger and your star players are younger guys, you have to have that. It’s not just hockey. It’s not just that relationship. You have to know what’s going on, and you try and stay on top of what’s going on in their life too, because it’s important that you do. So that’s more of the relationship thing. Because if everything was just based on winning and losing, there’s good days and bad days, and I don’t look at it like that. I don’t. I have zero tolerance for these guys that are high-low all the time. Not just players, but everybody [in an] organization. Anger is not a good emotion to have. It’s more ‘be real and figure it out,’ get going again. [Reporter: So this team kind of strikes me, as it has for a couple years now, of being a pretty low-maintenance team.] I don’t think that’s something that we want to talk about because there’s always maintenance…That’s a good way for somebody who’s not in the locker room to look at it, right? Because that’s how it should stay. If it’s high maintenance, that means there’s some trouble, right? So we’ve been fortunate enough to not have anything away from the rink, which is what you want. You want guys to be role models, represent the tea. It’s the same thing I said when guys went to the Olympics. They represent us. ‘When you go there, represent us.’ And that’s important. That makes it a family.

On saying “They’re all quiet, awesome guys” when previously talking about the Kings:
Yeah, but our team’s changed a lot. I mean, there’s a lot of different ways…you can just go look at the pictures. Our team’s changed a lot. Hey, the teams do change a lot in today’s game. That’s what happens, and teams have to change three or four guys a year. That’s the way the money works, and guys age out and guys come in, and there’s trades, all that stuff. Our team’s not the same team. There’s quite a few different characters in that locker room from then.

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