October 29 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On St. Louis’ evolving style:
A little personnel change. You know, I think David Backes, Troy Brouwer, Steve Ott – we saw Fabbri last year, we saw Schwartz, I believe. He got hurt or injured quite a bit, but we saw them, and then Perron, we know him, obviously. Yakupov. Defense is still the same. It’s probably a different type of forward group than we’re used to seeing. [Reporter: Maybe not as many as those big battles.] We’re not, either. Look at our team – we’re not that type. That’s old, too. We don’t have that, if you look at that in our lineup, too. It’s still very much two structured possession teams, right? Very much so. The defense can carry the mail very much.

On whether he appreciates the rivalry and facing Ken Hitchcock’s club:
Yes and yes. [Reporter: Darryl, I’ll take that a step further. He said it’s so much fun to coach against you.] You’ve got to remember, we started in black and white, right? Now we’re into HD3 and all that stuff, so we’ve been at it through many decades and won lots against each other and lost lots against each other, so there’s a respect amongst older coaches. That’s one of the best parts of going to St. Louis and Chicago, Ken Hitchcock and Joel Quenneville.

On Ken Hitchcock saying that Los Angeles represents a “sandpaper” match-up:
He’s probably trying to throw a match and start the gas, right?

On whether it’s difficult to envision Ken Hitchcock retiring from coaching:
As long as you’re healthy and, quite honest, don’t have any health issues. That’s how I look at myself. If you don’t have any health issues and have a desire to do it and are still able to do it and stay connected with your family, then you’re going to do it.