Roy:
- He won't say he was embarrassed Monday, but he wasn't pleased with the performance. He's looking more at big picture, but he was pissed at the way they were playing that game and the start of the season. He's happy to be on the radio to communicate today. He says Roy, the hockey player, would have erupted by now but as a coach you have to have a different perspective. His role is to teach them and get them out of the slump. If he wasn't on the radio, he'd probably use a word in front of "Pissed". They're not happy, he thinks goalie is doing a good job, defense are doing decent job, but forwards have to go back to basics. Have to put pucks on net and drive the net and maybe you'll get a lucky bounce, but it's hard when you're trailing early. The players aren't happy. Roy says he's no genius, but he sees top 2 lines aren't performing.
- Asked if his forwards have been soft. He says they're looking for perfect play, need to be better in battles, need to play different. They have odd man rushes with no shots on net.
- He was asked if privately he acts differently (regarding being tough). He says yes, but he's a positive person and it's a process and can't forget where they were two years ago. He reiterates he's pissed off. He's the person that needs to talk to the players. He's not nervous. He didn't want to see it happen, but he expected. The year before you finish 2nd to last, then last year you make a jump, so where's the reality of this? He says this is a good team and a good group that wants to learn, but it's his job to help them. If he bashes them and screams at them, where can you go? You need to sit down, talk and tell the truth to them in the dressing room. He'll never come into the dressing room and say he doesn't know what to do with them. They want to win a Cup, they will win a Cup, but it's a process. It would be nice to speed up the process, but that's not the way it works. Every team tries to get better and compete.
- Asked about line changes and tinkering too much. He said they kept same lines for 4-5 games, and Tanguay has been their best player, so they're going to put him with ROR and Duchene. Hopefully he'll help them. Mitchell has played well. MacKinnon will play with McGinn and Briere, who deserves to play. It will be good for Everberg to take a break.
- They were involved in 3 on 3 OT, and that was something. He'd prefer that to a shootout. He said start 4 on 4 and go to 3 on 3. He said it's a different strategy on 3 on 3, he said from fan perspective it was awesome.
- They aren't scoring as easy as last year, there's no special recipe. When you have chances, need to score goals. Duchene hit crossbar at start of game, who knows what that changes last game. Last year was perfect, this year everything is going wrong. They're a team that needs to skate and work hard shift after shift with more consistency, and that's something they haven't done at same level of last year.
More after the break.
- Asked if they're depending on Varly too much. Varly is the leader of the team, they do rely a lot on him, like Avs depended on Roy. He thinks their D is working hard and they have to find a way to get offense going.
- MacKinnon is back to where he was last year, weight wise. Right after the show two weeks ago, when he was asked about it, the 10 pounds from last year are all gone.
- Asked about roster and changes. He said he made easy decision to take Everberg out. He didn't play well last game, but it's an easy way out. Can't say if he deserves to be out or not, but he's putting truth in their 4th line. 4th line and 3rd line are close to even in +/-. Is it a solution to take a top 2 line guy out of the lineup? He doesn't think so, giving them a chance to get out of the slump and be difference maker. Unfortunately for Dennis, he'll be scratched. Was it fair to put Briere in stands? He said they aren't in a position to put guys in stands because they aren't performing, wants to try to find solutions on the ice.
- Asked about loss of Stastny. Paul was an important player on the team last year, unfortunately you have to make decisions and so did Paul. He said two years ago Stastny was there and they finished second last. They could be missing him, they might not, it's hard to say. Jerome is a slow starter, is going to be fine, helped the team in the physical game the other night when the Flyers tried to be physical on MacKinnon.
- He got asked about the time Roy skated the puck past Gretzky and past center ice. He always dreamed to bring the puck to center ice and get a penalty, so what the heck, why not do it? He's a different guy, and that wasn't his best decision, but he had fun with it. He doesn't even remember what the coach said to him. He knew he wouldn't do it in a tied game, but it was late in the 3rd and they were losing. Ha.
| F | Avs
GO!!!
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