December 9 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On a practice that was heavy on skating:
We just ain’t going to get much in for the next couple weeks here. Better to do it now than on the road somewhere. [Reporter: Is it hard to get a regular practice on the road when you’re in an unfamiliar city?] The way this long trip sets up, there are things where you don’t want everybody out there. What we’ve tried to do the last two years is set our travel up so that if possible, we can [have] practice in a big rink, rather than a practice rink. So we’ll stay over so we can practice at the big rink, those types of things. We just felt that was better the last couple years for us. [Reporter: You’ve got that in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, I saw on this trip.] Yeah, because we practice in Buffalo in the afternoon before we fly, so Pittsburgh, too. Anyway, we’ve tried to do it like that, and then we’re going after Columbus to – is it Nashville? [Reporter: Yeah.] Because we practice in their big rink like at noon or something the next day, something like that. I just think the players are more familiar with those buildings, the trainers a lot of times can use if we need any of the rehab, it’s always better at the big arena.

On whether Andy Andreoff will draw back into the lineup:
Yeah, I’d like to get those guys in before we get out there. Get one game at home, if we can, before we [travel]. That’s what I’d like to do, so we just wanted to do that at practice today and see how it looked.

On Devin Setoguchi saying that he needed to boost his shots on goal and his compete level:
Yeah, I think he was a little bit caught in the circumstances of the line. I think that line was having a really hard time five-on-five, so we put Kinger in there. That line’s got to produce for us, but it’s also got to be able to play against good players, and if you’re getting scored on, there’s a good chance you’re on the short end of it. [Reporter: And Andreoff, can he bring a physical spark or just enthusiasm after having been out all that long?] Yeah, we’ll see. I mean, that’s sort of his M.O., being that type of player. I’d prefer he’s playing on the left wing, but we’ve got a lot of left wingers and they’re sort of the same mold, so we’ll see. He’s played a little bit of center, he’s taken some faceoffs, things like that. It’s nice to have another left-handed guy that if he’s on, if he’s beating somebody, it’s good to have another left-handed centerman.

On Derek Forbort’s play:
I think he’s been up-and-down. I think it’s fairly normal. I don’t think that’s a criticism at all. I think it’s very normal for a first-year player. I think with Brayden’s injury, it’s put us in a position to have to play him in situations that normally he probably wouldn’t, and he’s handled all that pretty well. The inconsistency in his game, I would say, is normal. You’re trying to get as much out him as you can, as much out of his game as you can, whether it’s early in the game or circumstances during the game or just things like that that you need him to be a lot sharper. It might be one night where it’s an assignment type of thing, a defensive thing, or it might be a situation, like a puckhandling situation. For example last night he had a really hard time with the puck a lot, and that affects your whole team. [Reporter: Do you like the way he’s trending? Is he trending in the right direction overall?] Well, when you say ‘inconsistent,’ that means their trend is- [Reporter: Up-and-down?] Yeah.

On mixing up defensive pairs during last night’s game and in practice:
I think its something just because the way we do it, we rotate it through and Gibby doesn’t mind going both sides, and Marty plays both sides, so during practice you really can’t read much into it. I think during the game last night, I just think Derek was having a real hard time last night, and Muzz and Marty were not helping each other out much last night. [Reporter: They got bunched up on that one goal.] They got bunched up more than once.

On whether Brayden McNabb’s work with a speedskater will help, even though he’s “a little bit older” from when players have a higher potential to improve skill aspects of their game:
Absolutely. He’s not ‘a little bit older.’ He still can do a lot in terms of muscle memory in training. That is going to improve his skating, and to be able to work on edge stuff and turning stuff that can keep up with the pace of the game or allow him to get to an area better or allow him to stay on his feet when he’s handling the puck in terms of putting the checker on his back, that sort of thing, absolutely. I think that everybody can – I mean, Greener worked with David this summer. Absolutely. I can just speak from experience that every player should take more advantage of those types of free classes. … I think these guys all work on their skating a lot more than ever, and I think that when we first started these skating coaches or instructors or whatever they may be called, I don’t think they quite had the respect that they had now. I think a lot of ‘em are former- [Reporter: Figure skaters.] Yeah. We just weren’t receptive enough to it. We used to go, part of the year you’d go to a power skating coach or something, but it was always hard in your mind how to translate that into the game, and it was hard for them too, because it wasn’t there – strength, either. But now you’re seeing it a lot more. I think you see guys like David, and every team’s probably has somebody that they trust and send guys to. The best part about Dave is we can get him about here. That’s important … so we can get him out here, or we can get him in Milwaukee, that area. Quite honest, we have a lot of guys that need a lot of work on it. I mean, I wish more guys when they were injured would take advantage of it. You can definitely see a difference with Brayden. You can, definitely. When he started with David in the summer ‘til training camp, there was definitely a more powerful skater and a more balanced skater, for sure. … In Chicago, they’d send us to a [skating coach]. Her name was Audrey Blakewell. There was Laura Stamm, Audrey. Quite honest, there were a lot of ladies.

[ED: Dave Cruikshank has been hired by the Kings to work exclusively with their players this season, according to hockey operations.]