On how he would describe the team’s trajectory through the preseason:
I think the first games were pretty sloppy, which they normally are, the split-squad against Phoenix. I thought we improved after that each and every game until tonight. We were back to just making too many mistakes a little bit, too many turnovers, and not being as clean when we’re coming out of our zone and going through the neutral zone, and that just leads to more time in your own zone and giving up too many shots. We didn’t play the way we wanted to tonight, but still, we did a lot of good things in preseason, and we just have to realize where we’re at and get it going for real here on the eighth.
On whether there was any stagnation due to a lengthy preseason:
Whatever it was, it doesn’t really matter, other than the fact that we know where we’re at. We know that this wasn’t the way that we want to start the regular season with this last game. But we did do lots of good things during the preseason. This is just a small snapshot tonight of the entire preseason, so we can’t make too big a deal of it, and I think we all have a pretty good handle in here as players and as coaches – they’ll tell us where we’re at and where they need us to be, so I think guys in here are pretty realistic.
On whether he’s satisfied with where the team is at to start the season:
Well, I think first of all, you just want to be where you’re feeling good and you’re not injured, and guys are feeling like they’re ready to go for that first regular season game. That’s really what preseason’s all about. That’s for the older, established players, and then for the young guys, they want to go out and show everyone what they can do. So, really, that’s about all preseason is for.
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