January 2 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On the upcoming schedule breaks:
I talked about that earlier – right before Christmas and four now, and that takes us to the All-Star Break. [Reporter: To break that into segments like you do, just kind of the narrower focus?] I don’t know, I think with the way the schedule jammed, even though there are those breaks that we were going to finish – what is it, five in seven and a half days? – so I’m glad there are some days there, especially with guys banged up. It gives Robyn a little bit more time again.

On Tanner Pearson’s recent performances:
I think those guys who had good starts have got some energy back in their games again. That’s evident, I think. Pearson, Toffoli – i think the break really helped Drew and Muzz, the Christmas break. I’ve seen that in their game. So those guys who have played every game, you see the difference. [Reporter: Drew plays at such a high level. How do you notice that, what you just talked about? Just little things?] I think as games go on, his detail – there have been times, and again, even last night, he played so much, and same with Muzz. It’s not easy when guys are playing that many minutes. It’s not the ideal situation, obviously. But, you know what? We’re dealing with those pretty well, when you look at it. If you do it from an individual standpoint, those guys are still producing, and from the team standpoint, we’re still at the top in terms of goals against. We’ve stayed in the top 10 pretty much for a month and a half now, and our goals for is up in the top third of the league. So you’ve got to give those guys credit for being able to play that many minutes and still produce, and being with Muzz and Drew also, as much special teams as they’re getting now.

On his impression of Nashville after having seen the Predators live:
They’re a good hockey club. I mean, they’re fighting with Chicago for their division. Obviously Rinne being healthy, we talk about Jonathan Quick, they talk about Rinne, and when you look at their defense, it’s not just a good young defense, they’re a great young defense. So my impression would not be any different. Goaltending and defense wins you games and wins you championships, and that’s why they’re competing with Chicago. [Reporter: Ryan Ellis had a pretty good game that night. Is he somebody that’s starting to grow a little? I mean, obviously there are other guys who have made names for themselves on that back end, too. Is he somebody that you’ve seen improve?] I think they have five top young defensemen, and that would be counting Shea Weber as a young defensemen. I think the veteran they use is the one guy that if you go past Shea, what’s the Russian guy? (Anton Volchenkov) Other than that, it’s not ‘Ryan Ellis.’ There are five guys. Josi and Jones, Ellis, Weber. It’s a pretty stacked defense.

On the impact of the club’s fourth line last night:
I think it’s really important when you play a lot of games in a short period of time that you have production from other parts of your lineup, and we got a goal from that line last night, and we got a big goal from Jarret’s line. It’s good to see three guys score last night – Willie also – to see if it helps them. You know what? Deep down there’s still a little bit of a confidence thing always when you’re not producing, and just to see them do that is good. The fourth line has to give us, whoever’s on that, the way it’s set up now, you guys know I’m not calling that, but that’s sort of how it’s slotted right now in terms of five on five minutes, but they have to be productive and they have to be physical guys, and they have to be energy guys We’ve moved it around. Cliffy didn’t play the game before that. Hey, quite honest, it’s based on performance. You’ve got Nolan and Andreoff and Kinger who can go up and play both sides, and I have no problem playing Kinger with Kopi. But I’d say everybody else is fighting for minutes, and they need to produce. I’d love to see them score, because as I said, it’s good for them. But at the same time, guys who don’t play a lot of minutes, a lot of it’s based on wins and losses.