April 9 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On how his communication changes with a well-established core:
We know how we play, and the seven or eight guys that are the core group-part of the Stanley Cup team. It’s a goalie, and three or four defensemen, and especially up the middle of the ice, and then Brownie is your captain. They have a common goal and a common theme always, and we very seldom beat ourselves. So that’s basically how you want it.

On how the Kings’ younger players have progressed:
I think it gets really overlooked. If you did it on paper, it’s probably a younger team than they’re playing tonight. So it gets overlooked – Tyler, Tanner, Marty, Muzz, Campbell coming up, Slava, Drew. I mean those guys are young guys. Everybody talks about because this team won the Cup two years ago, they talk about that it’s a team that’s been together. Well, you look at those young guys, basically they have experience – playoff experience. But they’re young guys. They’ve played really well for us …those guys who came up and down last year – Tanner had a little bit of experience in the playoffs – and the young guys on defense, you know what? They’ve been pretty good players for this team for a couple years, better than most guys that age that are still six, seven, or playing in the American League or playing in junior or playing in school. So they’ve done a really good job for us.

On coaching a team where the last three games have no bearing on the standings:
These don’t. With the alignment, that’s totally changed. If you don’t win your division, two plays three. So we pretty much knew when we clinched a spot, that also pretty much clinched three. So you’re just waiting to see what two is. That’s basically hat it is. So it’s changed. It’s changed a lot. Remember in the old days, when we played in the division, you had to come out of your division. One-four, two-three. That’s the way Edmonton and Calgary – a lot of the times they said one of those teams should’ve won the Stanley Cup, and a lot of times they couldn’t get past the first or second round. We’d seen it in the Norris, and look at Islanders-Philly. Have we seen it before? Yes. But this year is different than any year since pre-four. It’s different.

On whether the approach changes when nothing can be gained in the standings:
Well, obviously from a coaching standpoint, we’re being cautious with guys who are banged up. We’d do it anyways. We’re pretty much a four-line, six-D team. Now, basically what you’ll do for sure is do it even more. We’ve done it the last two games where you’re not really looking at the special teams part of it, where you’re giving guys the opportunity to play on it, play those situations, and then try and play as much five-on-five as you can and just roll it. You know what? I’ve said it when you guys asked about it before. This schedule this year, because of the Olympic year, is really tough. So the teams that make it, you have to look at it like you want to play two more months. So if you’ve sewn up your spot, then as much as you want to be perfect, you still want to try and be as ready as you can for next Wednesday or Thursday without overlooking the games you have left. So it’s a little bit of a catch. You know, since we clinched the game against Phoenix at home, we’ve continued to play well. We just need to score some goals.

On what he remembers from Game 2 against Vancouver in 2004, which took place 10 years ago today:
That’s a long time ago already. Game 2 in Vancouver? No, it doesn’t jump out. I couldn’t tell you one thing about it, to tell you the truth…I remember how happy Harley and Doc were when we won Game 7. I couldn’t tell you anything about Game 2.