News Article: BG Sun Article - one on one with DJ (discusses key players)

[Butchy Dakkar]

My first thread. If I screwed it or should have put it somewhere else let me know.

good to hear DJ’s thoughts:

GARRIOCH: One-on-one with coach D.J. Smith on the young Senators | Ottawa Sun

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[Masked]

Where's North Dakotia?

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Here are the DJ Smith quotes about the team in general.

“We’re in a really good spot in locker room, as to leadership, as to what we have to do win games and accountability amongst themselves,” Smith said. “The coach wants people to be accountable, but, when you see players start to hold each other accountable, that’s when your team turns the corner.

“That’s slowly happening, where they understand how hard it is to win after losing as many games as we have over the last 100 games, but, as a group, as we grow, they’re realizing what you have to do to win. A lot of nights they’re pushing each other to be better in a competitive way and that’s a sign to me this team is ready to get going and turn the corner.”

“We would like more depth scoring. That would help us win,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, you’re going to win by defending. We want those guys to score. All those kids are having success. It would be alarming if we had a bunch of kids up here that struggled terrible. That’s not the case.

“They’re all being big, main contributors. What we have to do is get our team defence better. That will, as more and more guys come. The two guys are eventually going to come from North Dakotia (defencemen Jacob Bernard-Docker and Jake Sanderson) on the back end and then (centre Shane) Pinto. As a whole we’ll have the puck more. If you have the puck more, you defend less.”

Here are the DJ Smith quotes on Norris, Tkachuk, Stützle, Batherson, Chabot and White.

Josh Norris

“He’s been exceptional,” Smith said. “He’s the guy that plays against all the guys in the middle of the ice. He has to play against (Edmonton Oilers star Connor) McDavid and these guys. The crash course that he’s had this season has probably pushed him to being close to a third-year pro by the end of the year.

“No young kid will ever be in a spot where you’re going to be against McDavid one night, then (Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston) Matthews the next night. A lot of times, when you’re in that spot, you fail, and he hasn’t failed. This guy is well ahead of where I thought he would be away from the puck, and offensively he continues to get better. He goes as his confidence goes, but away from the puck this guy is a real centreman.”

“Sometimes that learning curve can break you,” Smith said. “What if he went in and he was minus-30 and he never had the puck? You’d get beat up, and he doesn’t get beat up. He’s sticking his nose in there and contributing. He has the toughest matchups of anyone, and I don’t hide him from anybody.”

Brady Tkachuk

“He’s grown significantly with the puck,” Smith said. “His skating is better, and I was saying to him (Thursday) how strong his stick is, and I think people talk about (former Senator Mark) Stone and how good his stick was. I think Brady’s now shooting it harder. It’s the whole package. He’s hard to get pucks away from.

“His emotion, physicality and being the catalyst is always going to be there. His puck touches are there. He’s a guy who score more goals than even I thought. One of these years, when he gets a real passer with him, he’s a guy that can put up numbers.”

“I don’t want a guy to be able to pick a fight with Brady,” Smith said. “Brady is always going to stick up for his teammates and the fights should just happen. He shouldn’t have to babysit everybody. That’s not his job. He’s one of our best players. You can’t be the guy in the penalty box all the time, but, in saying that, you can’t take the fight out of the lion.

“There’s nights he’s feeling good and ornery and that’s why he’s a good player. Sometimes he’s just going to do what he has to do. Some nights he comes in and he’s just miserable and I know he’s just going to be nasty to play against. That should put a scare in the other team and the other defencemen.”

Tim Stützle

“He’s been great,” Smith said. “In this division, he’s had some exceptional games and he’s also had some lulls, but I believe that’s more fatigue based on the amounts of practices and games. When he’s got his legs and he’s fresh, he’s dangerous and he’s really dangerous on the high-end plays.

“As he matures, gets stronger and the schedule slows down, I don’t know if there’s too many players that have been better than he is at his age. If you rewind all the guys that are stars now and bring them back to his age, there’s few guys in the last little bit that have his ability in my opinion.”

“His defensive awareness is significantly improving, and, when your best players play defence, that’s when you make the playoffs,” Smith said. “That’s when you start to be dangerous. The team gives up the least goes is going to be close to winning the (Stanley Cup) almost every year. We want to let these guys have some freedom and score some goals.

“But we want to cut the goals-against down significantly, and, once we do that, is when we’ll become a significant threat and somebody that’s taken serious.”

Drake Batherson

“The improvement he made in one year is unbelievable,” Smith said. “His skating, his ability to make plays in tight spaces, under pressure, on the power play, he’s as a dangerous offensive player as anyone we have. He’s not soft, he blocks shots. He’s a real hockey player.”

“I was saying the other day when we pulled the goalie that Drake and Brady are both going to be on the ice whether the goalie is out or it’s the other way,” Smith said. “Both those wingers are big, strong. They can get pucks out and in. Drake has improved in that area significantly. I have no issues putting him out with a one-goal lead in the last 30 seconds.”

Thomas Chabot

“I defend him when people start talking about the way he defends,” Smith said. “He’s playing against the best players in the world, he runs our power play and he’s required to get all the points. As these players come from below him, they’re going to help him with the other parts of the game and he’ll be able to concentrate more on (defence).

“He’s put a lot of time into it, he’s gotten better at it and he’s had a good year.”

“People get mad at a lot of things. When you pay a player like you pay him, and he’s your best defenceman, you play him,” Smith said. “That’s the world we live in today. The guys that get paid all the money are required to play big minutes. If you look at all the games he’s played 30 minutes, there would be very few where we didn’t get a point or didn’t win.”

Colin White

“We had a rocky start, with me making him a healthy scratch,” Smith said. “I don’t know if it was the right decision or the wrong decision, but at this point in time I trust Whitey in all situations. He’s an energy guy that can score goals. The guys love him as a person. He competes hard, he works hard and he doesn’t complain.

“He’s really come on and he’s a guy who’s going to be a big part of this going forward.”

“That was a lot of pressure on him last year, and now he just plays,” Smith said. “I have no doubt he’s going to outplay that contract. I have no doubt he’ll be a very good No. 1 or No. 2 or 2B centre in this league that can carry pucks through the neutral zone, can score you 20 or 30 goals and can check as well.

“Sometimes adversity brings the best out of you. I see him strutting around because he worked his way out of it.”

 

[thesensguy]

Players coach. Agree with a lot of what he said.

 

[DrEasy]

Players coach. Agree with a lot of what he said.

Yes, sounded very reasonable.

 

[JD1]

I thought that was an excellent article and a very realistic and candid view of where we are