On Arizona incorporating younger players:
I think they’ve used young guys similar to the way we have. Obviously they’re looking to see if they can be a part of their development next year, and we’re looking to see if some of these guys can be a part of our development this year.
On former King Andrew Campbell:
They’ve moved a lot of defensemen out. It’s the land of opportunity when you’re a team that’s not in the playoff race, so it’s a chance for Andrew Campbell to see if he can play in the NHL next year.
On whether he likes what he’s seen from the young players on the Kings:
You know what? I said it last game…The guys who are going in, you look at our record with them in the lineup. If you’re just a .500 player, then you’re not a playoff team. You know what? The kids that we’ve put in, the young guys who we put in aren’t looked on as great offensive players, or they certainly haven’t proven it at this level, so if they’re going to play, even though some of them have been here a while, if they’re going to play serious minutes for us, then we better win and they better produce, and they better have a role that they embrace.
On whether he spoke to Mike Richards while he was at the facility:
No. It’s not my department. Any information that you can gather, you won’t gather it through me.
On having tweaked lines at practice:
We’ve got guys who haven’t scored in 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 games, whatever it is, and some of them have had zero scoring opportunities for the last five as individuals. So, you know what? We’ll leave Jeff and Tyler together and leave Kopi and Gabby together and let everybody else see where they can play. [Reporter: With Gabby and Kopi, what have you seen from them? Have they been showing bits of chemistry here and they hadn’t-] I think they always have chemistry. I think they’ve had seasons where they’ve been in and out of the lineup, and probably until Christmas not being able to settle in to what type of players they were, and I don’t like talking about it because I want ‘em to play the next game. [Reporter: One of ‘em won’t play next game?] Well, if I talk about it, they won’t. Look how much it’s affected our record by those guys not being in the lineup or not playing toegehter. It has a dramatic effect. The story that Jeff and Tyler – it’s a good story, that they’ve carried us off and on all year – the reason that you’re saying that is because of Kopi and Gabby not being consistent and productive together. You know what? When Gabby’s leading our team in power play goals – and we need him to do that – if you look at, based on games played, he’s what, a 30-to-40 goal scorer. So if we had every game, then we’d be probably better off. And if you look at Kopi’s numbers, they’re down from his career [averages], so you know what? At the end of the day you’re going to say with the guys you expected to get numbers out of, what are we getting, and what did we get?
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