September 29 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On watching the game from upstairs on Wednesday:
It’s a good place to watch a game from. Wanted to see some system things we’ve been working on, see where we’re at from a team standpoint and individual.

On the next step he’d like to see Tanner Pearson take:
Play a full season again. Contribute at both ends of the ice. I’d like to see his numbers go up offensively. He’s a really reliable guy. He’s a guy you can count on. Just want him to take that next step. We need that group of guys to really take a step for us, and he’s an important guy.

On coaching his son, Brett, on Monday:
You know, we’ve been in the same dressing room his whole life. He’s a pretty reliable guy. You don’t have to say much – his work ethic and his commitment and all those things. It’s good for the organization to have players like that, and for myself, hey, I’ve been at it a long time. I’ve played against my brothers, coached my brothers, coached against my nephews, coached against my son, coached my son. You can pretty much go do down the line. It’s unique.

On Kurtis MacDermid:
He was better last night than he was the night before, that’s for sure. He’s a guy that’s going to have to play a role a la if his development continues, similar to guys that we would be familiar with. It would be like Regehr and Greene, players like that, which means that you have to be basically mistake-free and you have to play with an edge and you have to play with an edge and you have to play within the rules and you have to be able to play a fast game. We’ll see where it goes. [Reporter: You like what you see so far? What does he need to work on, still?] All of that. He’s just going into his second-year pro. It’s a big step, quite honest, for a player like that to get into a second game and then hopefully get another one.

On when he’ll get a sense of whether the team will keep seven or eight defensemen:
I don’t think we’re even to that point. Playing this doubleheader in the middle of training camp is not ideal. You’re basically still going way over your limit, so to be playing in two different places, it cuts into that question, right – how many? I think until the middle of next week or even ‘til Vegas, we have no idea, really. I think we still have to wait for Muzz and Drew to get back, and we’ve still got a lot of games in a short time. We have to stay away from the injury part, so all that. It’s really hard to answer.