On the road trip:
I think we struggled in Nashville, still showed a lot of character in the third period and nearly came back. I think the last two games we’ve played really well. At the end of the day you want points. You need points, but we didn’t [get them], and that happens, and that’s it.
On Dustin Brown’s performance:
I think we did this in October and September, the same story. He had a summer where he could finally train. He trained, and it showed up in his performance. [Reporter: What type of role do you like him in now? Maybe he’s not doing some of the offensive things he was doing earlier in his career, but do you like him as that banging – I guess he’s always done that, too.] No, I like him when he does that. [Reporter: Is that helpful in the playoffs? Meaning it was such a big part of your 2012 run, especially in the first round against Vancouver when he was really hitting guys a lot. I think for the most part when a player has a role and it’s a specific role and you’re looked on in the league as being good in that role, then you should stick to that role and your career will continue to be productive.
On losing leadership from previous teams, and other players emerging:
I think the guys we added have won Cups and have played lots. We added Scuderi and Lecavalier and Versteeg. Those guys have playoff experience. It doesn’t mean they’ve won Cups. Very few players in this league have won Cups, but those guys’ experience has really helped. I think that the young guys that we’re talking about, most of them were on our team last year and we didn’t make the playoffs, so it’s still very much, just answering the last question, it’s still very much the same situation for me. I’m not into letting somebody off the hook or saying, ‘oh, you haven’t played in 10 games,’ or any of that. If you can’t handle it, you ain’t playing.
On Brown’s leadership and how he communicates with the coaching staff:
We have a group of captains. Brownie was the captain, and he’s been the captain for how many years? [Reporter: Long time.] So that’s the C. But Brownie also likes having lots of support around him, and we’ve had that. That’s how we’ve won here. It wasn’t on one guy. We had a lot of guys who don’t wear letters that were captains. They were veteran, proven guys, and they were as much of a captain as anybody in there. Now we’ve changed because our age group has changed and the names of that group has changed, so now you have Jonathan Quick as a captain for our team. Kopi’s a captain. Drew’s a captain. Looch is a captain. Jeff’s a captain. So it’s not like you have one guy. It’s not on one guy, that’s not the way the game works anymore. If you look at the other sports, there might be an offensive or a defensive [captain]. It’s changed a lot. It’s way better to have six or seven guys, way better.
On whether Brayden McNabb is more effective and noticeable:
You notice him because he played with Drew. [Reporter: A little bit more like standing up, and even like the last game at the red line-] He should knock guys on their ass once in the game. He shouldn’t take penalties that they score on, he shouldn’t turn pucks over below the goal line. I noticed all those things. Again, he wasn’t a playoff player last year, so can he be an important player this year? It’s kind of what these 10 games are for.
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