October 7 morning skate quotes: John Stevens

On the challenges presented by San Jose:
Well, number one, it’s a division opponent, and I think this is a different animal than we faced the other night in Philadelphia. They’re a bigger, heavier team that’s really good below the goal line. The Thornton line has been dominant. I think they were again the other night. Burns is obviously a dimension that you don’t see every night, and I think this is a team that’s extremely committed to forechecking. They want the puck up, they want it in, they want to really get after it on the forecheck, so it’s something we’re going to have to be ready for.

On the positives he took from the season opener:
I thought we got off to a good start. I thought we were ready to play, and I thought we played with good pace and energy early. I thought we created some good scoring chances of playing the game the right way. Our special teams is something we’ve put a lot of focus on early in the year, and I thought our PK did a really good job. I actually thought our power play got better as the game went on. I thought we struggled early but then got better, so there are some positive things in there, but I think most teams will tell you there’s an awful lot of things that we need to continue to get better at. We’d like to do a better job of defending the rush. They had some quality looks on the rush there, just from managing the puck better, but that’s a work in progress. But clearly that’s an area that we want to clean up a little bit.

On whether the Kings have returned as a group with something to prove:
Not only collectively as a group, I think there are some individuals that had off-years last year that are really looking to right the ship. I think there’s a big group of players here that’ve had success before. The landscape has changed a little bit. Guys that were young guys and good players on a team are now in leadership roles. Guys that were secondary leaders are now the core leaders of our hockey team, so I think they’re all anxious as a group. They know what success feels like, they know how hard it is and they know what it takes, and certainly their commitment over the summer leads us to believe that they’re serious about getting back on track here and putting the work in necessary to become a much better team.

On how the Sharks’ foundation changes without Patrick Marleau:
I think our identities are a little bit different, but certainly, I’ve always felt Joe Thornton and Pat Marleau and Pavelski and Burns – those four guys, when I think of San Jose, I think of those guys. They can be dominant players. They’re stars in the league that compete every night, and the fact that Marleau’s not here, that’s the first time in such a long time, the first time since I’ve been here that he hasn’t been here. So, it’s a little bit of a different look, but again, I think they’re much like everybody else. They have some young players that are trying to fill the gap, there’s some older guys moving on, but there are an awful lot of pieces here that’ve been here for a long time that have experienced a lot of success, and I’m sure much like us, they believe they’re capable of it.

On what he likes in Nic Dowd, who is poised to make his season debut:
Well, you guys are assuming that’s happening. The hard thing, you start the year and 20 guys can play, and guys who don’t play, it’s not always because they’re not playing well. It might be just an element we want in our lineup. Dowder, we looked at him at the wing and at center. Andy’s a guy that’s been able to play all three forward positions. Brodzinski’s a young guy that’s deserved an opportunity. We’re going to make changes just to try and get the best look each night. Quite honestly, our third line needs to be better than it was the other night, so whether it’s the same group or making a change there, regardless of who it is, it just needs to do more for us and give us more quality minutes than we got the other night.

-Lead photo via Rocky W. Widner

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