January 13 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On the energy generated by Andy Andreoff’s line last night:
Cliffy’s the leader. Cliffy’s like Colin Fraser on that line now. Cliffy got us a point the game before, for sure and did a great job again last night, and those other guys better follow his lead to stay in the lineup.

On the transition of Kyle Clifford absorbing a wider leadership role:
Cliffy? You know what? He’s always awesome about that. You can talk to him about it and he understands it, and he went through the gambit of not playing much in the playoffs the year we won it, and then having a really good year after the lockout, if you look at it. In the short schedule he was really good for us. He played well in the playoffs that year, and then this last year from a numbers standpoint it was an off-year for him. So he’s trying to recapture that, and he never loses his energy or his purpose or understanding what his role is. I think that’s something that other players are going to have to learn, and they can do it by watching him. [Reporter: Do you see now that he’s been around for a couple years, you see maybe more guys gravitating towards him and kind of following his lead a little bit like when he tries to stuff like that?] Well, his work ethic and that part of it is something we need on our team. I think that especially with Robyn not in the lineup, it is missed, and I think that they should follow his lead. Hey…he’s still, I think, the third or fourth youngest guy on the team.

On Alec Martinez’s performance last night being a representation of his play this year:
He’s been really solid for us. I’ve said that several times. He’s been really solid for us. He uses his assets every night to his strength, and we need it. When you look around the league and you see teams like Calgary with guys like Russell and Brodie and guys like that, that’s what Marty brings for us.

On the team’s defensive effort last night:
Yeah, I’d say it was better through our lineup. It changed a lot in a few days because of Toffoli and Pearson’s injuries. It’s how we’re going to have to use guys. I mean, the question a couple days ago was talking about guys who were going in and out of the lineup, if they were going to replace Tanner and Tyler. Well, they’re not. They’re going to have to work their asses off to stay in the lineup. That’s their job. But there are some veterans – not some, all of our older guys – and we saw that last night where their minutes have got to go up a little bit. They’ve got to go up two or three minutes, and we have to get production. If you’re just looking at checking last night, we got two goals from that line. If we don’t get any goals or any checking from the other lines, then we’re going to lose. That’s clear. And some of our defensemen have to elevate their games – we’re talking about Marty and Drew, how well they’re playing, and Brayden coming in and playing a little bit better – but we certainly need some other guys back there to play better than they’re playing, and that’s why their minutes are down. It affects a lot. Big part of the game. If you think you’re going to win two-nothing every night, that’s how I’m going to coach, but I don’t know if that’s how it’s going to happen.