January 11 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On whether there has been increased competitiveness with two new players:
Yeah, and at the same time, they bring experience even though Luke is still only [the same age] as Drew, but they bring experience to your team at positions that we need it. That’s important. [Reporter: What have you liked from Luke so far?] I think he’s going to adjust easy. I think it’s a good fit with the four guys that are so mobile on our team. It’s a good fit with those guys. I mean, I’m not going to learn much in two games, where he’s going to play or how or those sorts of things. We’re trying to take advantage of his strengths and work with him on things that we think are more suited for our game. [Reporter: Is this a pretty easy system for a defenseman to move into, or is there an adjustment period that has to take place?] Yeah, I thinks it’s a big adjustment period.

On Milan Lucic:
I think he’s given us some size and he’s given us some leadership and he’s given us energy. He’s played with Carts and Kopi, but he certainly brings an element of nobody’s going to throw down with those guys. We’ve seen a little bit of that in the past where, quite honest, we haven’t had a player to play with either one of those guys that makes the other team take notice.

On Anze Kopitar’s line’s play against St. Louis:
They had three or four good forecheck shifts. Other than that, it was nothing special. I think the energy level of our team has been down, and that’s primarily related to your top guys and how they play.

On what has worked well in the first half of the season:
Three-on-three. I think we’re four or five points ahead of last year. Last year at this time the same question was being asked of what’s wrong. I don’t really think too much of it. We’ve got some players that are new to our team that are in and out of the lineup, and we’re trying to get them to play better so we can be a better team. Obviously the goaltending, that’s a change in position. That needs to be better. And the personnel on the back end, that needs to be better, and changing the personnel on the third and fourth lines, that needs to be better. It’s pretty easy to figure out, obviously. Supply and demand. They’ve got to supply it, and we’ve got to demand it. If they don’t, then don’t do either one. Just don’t play.