January 6 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On the pride associated with Canada winning the gold medal at World Juniors:
Yeah, they play for a medal every year. They’re historically at the top of the podium more often than not. I think there was a period there where it was sort of taken for granted, and I think that people who weren’t really watching it properly or looking at it properly were not understanding that the percentage of Europeans and Americans that were playing in the National Hockey League now, and where do they come from? They come from those junior programs for the most part. Hey, it’s the two nations that have always looked on themselves as being the premier, prime against each other. It was great to see it again.

On Slovakia pulling a “major upset” and winning bronze:
It’s awesome. I’m not so sure it is a ‘major upset.’ When a team that qualifies for the medal round that maybe is looked on – it’s like a team that doesn’t make the playoffs for five years and has a good run, and then doesn’t do it again. I think for them to do it, it’s awesome because, quite honest, the number of players in the country, if you look at it by province or state, just think that, say, California could have a team. It’s the very same idea. It’d be like taking a team from Alberta or something and putting it on that stage. It was great to see. The best, that’s still Canada, when you talk about how they respond to that, meaning- [Reporter: The support.] Darn right. They support. They recognize work and teamwork, the Canadian fan does, and that’s what they did with the Slovakians. Even last night, when they announced the goalie, I’m really proud of that. You’re really happy for the kids, but it’s great to see that, also.

On Jamie McBain’s production and whether he has performed to the level expected:
When he’s in the lineup, he takes some pressure off of Drew, and without Slava in the lineup – that’s what Slava did too, take pressure off Drew. Obviously Jamie’s not able to play that same situation that Slava did, but you can put him in offensive situations, and he’s done a good job with that. I think that we’ve had to adjust with a different type of defense, and he’s been able to fit in with it. Hey, we’ve used nine guys 40 games in. He’s going to tell you the same thing I’m going to tell you, that it’s the team part of it. Hey, there are things offensively we want him to see him do more of because he’s capable of it, and there are things defensively that we need him to be better at. [Reporter: There are players who have won here, some of them multiple times – and there’s Jeff Schultz, who has won also last year – but for McBain, McNabb and Schultz, do you see it as healthy competition? Do you see it as competition at all?] Well, ‘healthy’ has been a key for us, and who can play what side, and you know what? Schultzy and Brady both can only play the left side, and Jamie can only play the right side. That means all three of ‘em aren’t in the lineup if we’ve got everybody there, and maybe only one of ‘em is. Is it ‘healthy competition?’ It better be healthy, first off, ‘healthy’ meaning ‘physically healthy,’ and the other part is if we don’t feel that they’re playing up to their capability, maximizing their potential, then they’re not playing.