October 21 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On his reaction to Slava Voynov’s situation:
Obviously really concerned, not just from a hockey standpoint, but a personal standpoint.

On how he keeps this from being a “major distraction” to the club:
We’re pretty close as a team. It’s not just ‘team,’ it’s more of a family thing. We deal with distractions all the time. We’ve been able to handle a lot of adversity and pressure for three years now. [Reporter: Is this in any way different because it’s a legal matter, as far as a distraction goes?] I guess ‘yes,’ because we don’t really have anything to talk about. It’s a legal process, and we’ll let that play out.

On what Voynov’s loss means for the team defensively:
Well, from a hockey standpoint, obviously we have to make some adjustments in terms of who plays where and who plays what and who plays how and for how long – we don’t know.

On whether he picked up whether anything was “amiss” with Voynov on Sunday:
No, we played a hell of a game. He did play a hell of a game. I’m not talking any more about it.

On whether the league’s swift response was appropriate:
Absolutely. It’s very appropriate. [Reporter: I mean, the poor guy hadn’t even bailed out yet when they had already suspended him.] It was appropriate.

On whether Jake Muzzin is any closer to returning:
We’ll deal with it in the next two days. Get a better read on it.

On whether this situation is made easier because of a strong leadership group:
You know, we have a strong organization. It’s not just the leadership group in our room. It’s the organization that takes control of that, and it’s a trickle-down, trickle-up, and we have already.

On whether returning to the ice on Thursday will be a “relief,” or “back to work”:
We had a great practice today. We’ll have a great practice tomorrow, and we’ll hopefully have a great game Thursday.

On what is “pleasing” him the most about the way the club has performed:
Well, we’ve had to find different ways to win, obviously with personnel changes because of injury and probably with three or four of our older guys not being on top of their game to start the year. [We’re] finding different ways to win, and that’s a good thing. It’s almost how we’ve won championships, too, is finding different ways to win. So that’s what we’re doing right now, and it’s early in the year, so again, you’re experimenting as coaches and getting feedback from players in terms of how they think they’re playing and who they’re playing with, things like that. We’re fortunate to be as busy as we were in terms of the game ratio. The days off I think was really good for us, and then I think we’re fortunate now because of the injuries we’ve had to only play these two games in a week. And I know we’d like to stay in that game mode, but I think it’s also good for us to try and hopefully get some injured guys moving further ahead, and hopefully we can get them back on the long trip we have coming up.

On whether the team is progressing at a level of his liking, given the injuries:
Well, I think what’s important is that you understand that it is a long season, and there are wins, and there are losses, and you just take it one game at a time as we did today.

On whether he has ever experienced anything like Voynov’s situation in hockey:
Well, I’ve been in it for 35 years, so I’ve probably dealt with a lot of it.

On whether he speaks with his players about domestic violence:
Obviously we have strong feelings about it, and that’s as far as we’ll go. That is the best way to put it, and obviously the league has made a strong stand on it- [Reporter: But I mean you as a coach, is that something you talk to your squad about, your men who you impart values to?] I would think we’re probably about the same age, and I’m sure you talk to your children about things like that. A lot of these players are like children too to me.