September 24 practice notes: Daryl Sutter

On whether he asks veterans how many preseason games they need to get comfortable:
I think we’ve been off long enough that it’s more important that we tell them. I think bviously anybody that’s a little bit banged up or you think is ready, then you go to them. But I think in the last two or three years, we’ve talked to guys about how many games they need because of that, how long they’ve played. This year it’s a little different, and especially with trying to get some connection with guys on the ice. If you look at it, who are our partners going to be on defense? Who’s going to play center with this guy? So we’ve got lots to look at, and the guys knew that coming in and know that still, that they’re going to play.

On his plans for Trevor Lewis, who is versatile in where he plays:
It’s wide open. I trust him wherever he is, I’ll put it that way. I don’t have any problem playing him anywhere. If you look at how much he’s moved throughout our lineup, he’s played with Kopi in stretches. He’s played with Jeff, played center, played right, played left. We basically play him anywhere. [Reporter: Nice to have a guy like that.] Yeah. I wish one of those guys who are fighting for a spot – Andy can play both center and left – but you wish they all had a little bit more versatility in their game because it’s an advantage to have that.

On how to improve goal scoring in crucial situations:
I’d say improving that is personnel-related. Guys who’ve had tough years last year in terms of scoring – Brownie, Kopi – we’d look for them, obviously Lucic coming in. Somebody’s got to replace Justin Williams’ offense. They will.

On delineating responsibilities for reviewing plays for coaches challenges:
Well, we’re still working on it because some are home, some are road. There are times where Billy obviously has the headset, but there are some buildings that it’s not quite as good as others. Obviously at home we’re trying to run our cables to we can have an iPad by where the sticks are – you know, when you come out through the tunnel there – so you can look at it quicker. We have two guys doing video full-time now with two kids. There’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve in it, and you’re not going to be always right. What’s interesting, I think, is going through with the league, how they see it, the goalie interference one is still going to be mainly handled by the officials, and not very often I can see that being overturned because they still make the best call. There’s very few times they don’t make the right call with goalie interference. I think the one that is going to be a challenge will be the off-side play because there are more off-sides than you think. And even from live coaching, when you look at the video, you go, ‘Holy!.’ You go, ‘Jeez, how the hell did he miss that? How’d you miss that?’ It’s off-side by this much [hand signal] and both feet are in the air. It’s stuff like that – pucks in the air, but it’s over the line, behind one. That’ll be the one that I think might get challenged. [Reporter: But do you think someone on the bench will notice that more than someone upstairs?] It’s hard. I mean, all of a sudden my eyesight’s not going to get better. I’ve also told backup goalies, you guys on the bench have just as good of a read as anybody. You guys, you’re not doing nothing. A lot of times they’re closer to the blue line, and a lot of times they know if it’s goalie interference better than anybody else. [Reporter: A lot of times they’re sitting in a completely different area, so you’ll have to have them with an iPad. In some buildings they’re all over the place, the other goalie.] Yeah, I wouldn’t want the goalie with an iPad. [Reporter: Who has the overhead view? Just TV?] It shouldn’t make that big of a deal, but it’s part of the review that anything that’s in the last minute of the game, you don’t have to be involved in it. Anything that’s in overtime, which is three-on-three, is theirs. So none of that is relevant. It’s not a big change. Quite honest, the review part of it, it was coming. It had to come. [Reporter: Do you think it’ll affect how you use your timeout?] No. The only time that timeout gets used not in the right way – meaning it slows the game down – is when somebody’s trying to give somebody a rest, and our team, I don’t call a timeout unless somebody on the ice tells you, unless a player says ‘I’m gassed.’ When they’re skating back up the ice, I can holler. I’ll go, ‘Are you all right, [reporter],’ and you go, ‘Yeah.,’ and away you go. [Reporter: And if somebody needs the rest, you’ll sacrifice the time.] That would be the only way. And also, you’ve got to remember, you’ll think you’ll be reviewing something, other than if you’re trying to just delay it, you think you’re right. So if you’re right, you still have got your timeout. If you’re wrong, you don’t. [Reporter: Without getting into specific buildings, how often would the headsets not work in certain places?] I’m trying to think teams. I won’t say cities. [Reporter: Oh, I wasn’t asking for cities, but are we talking two-or-three?] It’s like Spygate. Our technology is getting better. Who knows – maybe this year it’s 100% instead of 90. … I don’t think it’s going to be as big of an issue. It’s good that it’s in place and the referees will have a little thing anyways, who’s going to look. When you look at a lot of those reviewable ones, it’s because you can’t see it. It’s because there’s somebody in front of it, and there is no angle for it. You’re going to probably more and more see that the play on the ice stands, unless it’s blatant. I’ve even been talking to some of the officials about it that we’ve had. They’re thinking the same way we are. They just want to get it right. But if it’s a 50/50 deal, the way it was called will stay. And that’s part of the way it should be. It’s like – who was it – Mike Scioscia said it earlier in the year. I think it was him. It was a good line, and he goes, ‘For a hundred years, it was an out.’ Now, most of those plays at second or first that are reviewed are overturned, when you look at it. It’s by that much.