Additional insight from Desjardins, Ranford, Budaj, Petersen, Lewis

If you missed earlier stories today, they’re below:

Surgery, 4-to-6-week Campbell timetable after meniscus tear; Petersen recalled
Quick progressing but obviously won’t be rushed; Vilardi note
How will Budaj and Petersen split time? Will the team’s style change?

On today’s news that Jack Campbell is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after tearing his meniscus in Saturday’s game, an injury that will require surgery, there are some additional quotes that didn’t make it into the earlier stories but are still very much worth your time:

Willie Desjardins, on how difficult it is to lose Jack Campbell:
Yeah, it’s tough. He’s been playing great. It’s really been great with Billy and Dusty, to be able to [work] with him. He’s come along way from my time in Austin, and he gave us a couple real quality starts, three for sure since I’ve been here. It’s difficult for him, but the good thing is he knows he can play, I think coming in here, he probably wasn’t quite sure where he was at, but he feels good about his game. So, it’s tough to lose him. But that’s why we’ve got other guys.

Bill Ranford, on Cal Petersen:
Cal plays a little bit of a calm style in the net. Has some athletic ability, also. He had an incredible rookie season last year in Ontario and is trying to get back on track with the Reign, and now he’s back with us. We’re excited for the opportunity for him, but also disappointed at losing our one and two guy right now.

Ranford, on when he knew Campbell would be sidelined:
They had to get the MRI obviously yesterday, but they came in and said it was already swollen. It’s one of those things, it’s unfortunate, but this is a great opportunity for Cal and Peter to help this team get back on track.

Ranford, on Petersen’s cerebral growth:
He’s got a great demeanor, and there’s no doubt about that. That’s the thing that we loved about him when we went after him. They’ve got a young team down there. We can’t make any excuses. He knows his job is to stop the hockey puck, and that’s what he loves to do, and we we’re going to need him to do it at this level now.

Ranford, on handling Peter Budaj:
He’s going to get one-on-one attention to get him ready to go and obviously the video work that goes along with it. But Peter, he’s a great pro, and we just need him to be Peter Budaj. We don’t need him to be anything special. Just come out and play the hockey that we know he can play.

Ranford, on whether Budaj can be the same goalie that he was two years ago:
Two years ago, he won 30 games for us. That’s the goalie we need him to be. I’m sure he’s excited about the challenge that he has in front of him right now, and between him and Cal, we need both guys just to play hockey for us, give us a chance to win every night, and we’ll go from there.”

Ranford, on Campbell finishing the game Saturday:
He’s a competitor, Jack. It doesn’t surprise me that he finished. He still had an awful lot of work for that last half of the game, so he was obviously sore afterwards.

Peter Budaj, on injuries to Kings goalies:
…obviously this is not the situation we want to get in. It’s a disappointing thing to lose Quicky and then Soupy, so it’s tough, but we’ve just got to roll with the punches. Nobody said that the road’s going to be easy, and injuries unfortunately happen. We just have to rally around as a team. That’s why we have good depth … and that’s why we’re going to be able to get some wins.

Budaj, on how ready Petersen will be:
He’s a good guy. I think he’s a great guy. He’s a very hard worker. He works his leg off… and he really wants to be successful. Obviously, even him, we talked to each other. It’s not a situation you want to be called upon when somebody is hurt, but I think he works hard and tries to prepare himself the best he can for each situation.

Cal Petersen, on whether this is an exciting moment in his career:
It’s definitely exciting, despite the circumstances, obviously. But I’m really excited to be here, and to have the opportunity to be up here with these guys, I’m going to try to make the most of it.

Petersen, on what Dusty Imoo has worked with him on:
I think working with Dusty, I definitely have become more consistent day-by-day. One of the things that he’s definitely been preaching on is it’s not always going to be perfect games every time and sometimes you’re going to have to battle through adversity. But, if you keep the same mentality of getting better every day in practice, and then obviously remembering the right things in games, it gives the team the best chance to win. I think that’s kind of helped me in the long run, being able to put together the best product night in and night out.

Petersen, on the challenges of playing behind a younger group in Ontario:
It’s definitely a challenge. I think the biggest thing that’s frustrating is not winning, because I think that’s the most important thing. But, like you said, we kind of had a little bit of a younger group, and we kind of knew from the beginning there was going to be a learning curve every time you have a new pro and guys are moving up in ranks. The guys battled for me last year when I had to adjust to the pro game, and there are definitely guys in the locker room that are battling for the other guys that are adjusting. Like I said, it’s the same thing – trying to get better every day, and I think we’re really confident in the group that we have, and I think things will come around.

Petersen, on who he called or texted first:
I called my parents. They were pretty excited. [Reporter: Emotional?] I couldn’t really tell. I wasn’t able to Facetime or anything, but they had me on speaker. I think they were excited, obviously, to get the call. We’ll see. It’s obviously exciting for them. They’ve put in a lot of effort to get me to this point, too.

Petersen, on what he said to his parents:
It was pretty simple. I told them the situation, and obviously I was definitely smiling to get the opportunity, like I said, despite the circumstances. It’s a proud moment for me, but it’s a proud moment for them, too, because they put in a lot of effort to have this opportunity. To be able to share it with them, it’s equally special for me.

Trevor Lewis, on another significant injury for the team:
It’s some adversity we’re going through, but we’ve just got to find a way to get out of it. We’ll defeinitely be better for it once we get going here.

Lewis, on battlilng through adversity:
I think every team gets injuries. … Every teams’ going to go through injuries. We just have to stay with it and keep battling through.

–Lead photo via Adam Pantozzi/NHLI