April 20 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On Jake Muzzin remaining in the lineup and continuing to develop:
“Well, we kept him in more just because our power play’s been so good, and we’ve used Richie on the point on the one unit, so we need Muzzin there for the other one, for sure. He’s given us good minutes, five on five. His minutes – it’s changed because he only plays the left side and he can’t play the right side. It’s hard to explain, but we took Keaton out because he plays the right side. It’s wasn’t like Keaton was playing…[Reporter: Badly?] Yeah. And, quite honest, I don’t like talking about it, because those kids have helped us get to where we are and they’re important players for us. So it’s not like Muzz has stayed in because he’s ahead. He’s a different type of player and he plays a different side. And he can’t play the right side. Basically, Keaton got bumped out of the lineup, and Muzz has played ahead of Marty, when you look at it. That’s the position.”

On Matt Greene being critical of himself after Thursday’s performance:
“It’s good that he challenges himself. That’s always the best way. That’s how he plays, right? He wants to be better. [Reporter: He said he thought he better get better quick.] He played one game, quite honest. He’s played one game since [January] 11th. The game he played, he was probably hurt five shifts in. So he’s really played one game this season. In a year.”

On the thought of giving defensemen a rest over the final week of the season:
“I haven’t looked at it. I’m thinking about tomorrow only. I don’t like talking about it, because every time you think you’re in a position to do that, somebody gets banged up. I don’t like it based on performance. I like it based on partners. I’ve never been one of [those] guys that rests guys. You can rest during the game.”

On being five points behind Anaheim:
“You know what? It shouldn’t be the focus of anything, right? You’re goal going into any year, and I’ve said it lots, your goal going into every year – and I know it’s sexy and all that for everybody to say ‘Oh, our goal this year is to win the Stanley Cup. Well, 30 teams say that. That’s their goal every year. I’ve heard that for 30-something years. Really, your goal going in, especially now, is to make it. And then once you make it, because to make it, quite honest, you’ve got to win twice as much as you lose, if you look at it. If you make it, that means you’re still winning. That means you’re moving up in the standings, so that takes care of itself. It’s showing again that there’s not enough of a gap between anybody – other than one team that’s only lost five games this year – for it to matter. So if you take care of business one day at a time and you win, or you play well enough to win at some point, then it takes care of itself. Anaheim has been a team that had such a great start, but you know what? We’ve still got to win every game for two months to catch them. So is that possible? That’s not possible. We just want to take care of our own business and let it fall where it may. There’s just such a fine line between the teams that you’ve just got to sort of take care of your own.”

On who he would vote as the “most inspirational” player:
“Getting Greener and seeing Matt come back – seeing that on TV yesterday where Karlsson is back skating with Ottawa, and that’s the thing with injuries, there is a timeline based on medical staff and therapy and training staff and all that, but there’s also a bull’s-eye. You circle bull’s-eyes when you think you’re going to play. Circle that, and those are usually guys that attack that date instead of always going back for a second or third opinion. So I’d think that’s a good one. I really haven’t thought about it.”

On the experience Anze Kopitar gained from last season’s playoff run:
“Well, because he hadn’t played much, he had basically zero because he was hurt the year before. Did he play any playoff games the year before? He played like one series or two series in his career, right? So that’s how valuable it is to every player that hadn’t…won a series.”