Justin Williams “open” to Olympic point distribution

Earlier today Darryl Sutter stated his opposition to the NHL shifting towards an international point distribution, in which three points are awarded for a regular win, two for an overtime or shootout win, one for an overtime or shootout loss, and no points for a regulation loss.

Justin Williams, on the other hand, referred to himself as “a guy who would look into that, for sure.”

“I’m not sure the NHL would entertain it, just because the two points keeps so many teams in the playoff race. The one point – the loser point – keeps teams thinking they have a shot at it. Ultimately, they do. I don’t think for that reason they’re probably going to go to it, but I would certainly be open to the idea.”

Justin Williams, on Slovenia’s men’s hockey Olympic performance:
If they had beaten Sweden, boy, that would’ve been a national holiday over there. It’s pretty special. I’ve been emailing Kopi back and forth. He knew they did something special and made their country proud.

Williams, on international hockey:
Hockey is almost a worldwide sport. A lot of countries, especially in Europe, are playing catch-up. They’re closing the gap, it seems, every year. With the bigger ice and how well most Europeans skate, it gets them a lot close to being able to compete with the North American teams and the Finlands and the Swedens, those type of teams, who are able to play on the small ice surface, on the big ice surface.

Williams, on whether this string of practices is like a mini training camp:
Coach is smart. He knows that you can’t come in the first day and hammer out a two hour skate and a two-hour workout after almost two weeks off. You take it a step at a time, you get a little bit harder, and a little bit harder, and you back off a little bit. I’m certainly looking at this as a mini-training camp, for sure.

Williams, on whether he watches Olympic hockey as a fan of his teammates:
I’m watching them as a fan of Canada.