Head Coach Todd McLellan speaks to the media after Mondays practice
# Head Coach Todd McLellan speaks to the media after Mondays practice
| Date | Site | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-10 | LA Kings on YouTube | Head Coach Todd McLellan speaks to the media after Monday’s practice |
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# Summary
Head Coach Todd McLellan speaks to the media after Monday’s practice
# Notes and Quotes
Q: A few days ago, Todd, you talked about how last season’s Camp was about establishing the identity and this year it’s more about rediscovering from what you guys had last year how have you seen that kind of progress through the last preseason game and to now today’s Final practice?
A: well I think that’s a process that’s going to continue not just for the Kings but for for every team that’s beginning the season you’re never the finished product on day one and um I do think I’ve mentioned to a few guys that day one is often uh you know it’s either too high or too low or or whatever it is day two is really where you um start to see what your team is made of and and how it rolls out but we’re at day one it’s we’re going to make it important it obviously is we’d like to see our identity come out we’d like to see our structure come out we’d like to see individuals find their game within our game there’s areas that we’ve concentrated a little bit more on throughout training camp than others and we should see improvements in those areas or at least progression towards it pardon me um but it will take some time and um we’re no different than any other team in the league
Q: Todd you talked about identity. The last three games were high scoring games, not really your identity Is there a lot to clean up defensively or is that just an offshoot of preseason?
A: there are some things to clean up defensively um some of it’s game management some of its um you know situational that we’ve got individual mistake here and there not necessarily the team as a whole uh some of its games five six and seven of exhibition season you know whatever that means I think you guys can figure that out um you know we have to remember who we are and what our identity is and play towards that so at the end of the day at the end of the day that’s what will take us to where we want to go and if we start to stray from it uh we’ll probably learn some valuable lessons along the way and we’ll have to reel some things in but that’s who we are and that’s how we’ll have to play
Q: you uh you took a while before you were able to define the identity of the team what about now what is it
A: well we should be really hard to play against because we’re a structured team we have some predictability um to each other not necessarily to the opposition in what we do uh our checking skills are in our DNA and we value that and when I say we usually starts through the championship players that have been here before um and it trickles all the way down you can be a really sound responsible trusting player on the ice and still produce offense Phil Danault was that last year Adrian Kempe for the most part is that um so start there and the offense will come later on do we want to score more goals of course we do and we we have to but if we’re chasing goals all over the place and giving up too many we’re probably uh you know going to be in trouble
Q: on Brandt we’ve talked about obviously you know what he’s shown in Camp on the ice the skills that he has and the growth that’s obviously there also I wrote how much does his does this confidence that there’s even a seems to be a little bit of swagger a little little attitude whatsoever how much does that even carried him through this camp and to this point where maybe he can be playing tomorrow night
A: I I think that that has helped him immensely um he knows who Brandt knows who Brandt is he knows what’s in his toolbox in his tool kit um he hasn’t played with fear and what I mean by fear is not the the physical part but fear of of erroring on the ice he makes plays he attempts plays uh he’s been very coachable throughout training camp um you know potentially away from the King’s family I could see where that confidence or that Swagger may be misread in other environments um where it could hurt him but so far not in ours not one bit
Q: Todd, the last few preseason games it’s like a lot of goals in the second period I think I counted 10 goals against anything that tendencies that were happening or not happening
A: um while we get off we’ve had good starts in the exhibition season we get to the break we come out and we we seem to take penalties penalties that aren’t really important in anything that’s going on away from the puck in the o-zone the neutral zone I’d like to think that that can be cleaned up those are individuals more than team mistakes I’d like to think that gets cleaned up and um early in the year that can swing the momentum a big way but other than that I don’t have anything else to put my finger on
Q: You just mentioned Danault and Kempe who both had career seasons last year what have you seen or what do you know about them that means you to believe that could be the norm as opposed to be except that being exceptions
A: well I have a longer track record with Adrian and to me where Adrian the day I walked in the door and Adrian was there till now he’s gone from boy to man in my opinion in his responsibility for his own game has gone up immense immensely and I see that in them so I’m confident that confidence that he can carry on is he a 35 goal scorer I sure hope so but I know he’s a 20-minute player for sure most nights and that’s just as important as being a a 35 goal scorer with Phil um Phil’s ability to play in structure and read plays and be responsible for the other 20 minutes a night um has always been there his breakout was the offensive part and I think if he continues to do um the things he did on the the defensive side of the puck he’s going to get those opportunities offensively as well so they haven’t shown signs that they can’t repeat
Q: What are you looking to bring out of Quinton Byfield’s game how would you assess where he’s at and what you want to see from him, I guess a blueprint this year
A: well a year ago we were putting him in a cast and we were putting them on the shelf for four months four and a half months we’re not doing that now so he’s way further ahead he’s bigger he’s stronger he’s skating better he’s over top of pucks a lot more um the evaluation tool I think on the exteriors all these goals and assists and can he be that or whatever he in my mind is already a better player now than he was last year at this point now we’ve got to let him play and find his way and um the rest should happen as the night goes on but as the year goes on Pardon Me not tonight but as the year goes on
Q: Todd with Fiala, he might be the only new player in your lineup tomorrow night now that you’ve seen him in the preseason games practices for a couple of weeks is there anything about his game that maybe he didn’t know that you’re really appreciating
A: um there were assumptions that we made based on his Point totals and video and that type of stuff you know the the hockey sense the sense of timing space finish those assumptions to this point were good assumptions on our behalf because we’ve seen that so it’s the overall package and it’s just throughout exhibition season confirming what we believed we were getting and what we had viewed in the past but now we see it full time or if that makes any sense but that’s that would be my answer for that
Q: the Viktor Arvidsson uh did he come back sooner than you as anticipated and how did he look off the other off the other night in terms of being able to jump in the front
A: um not necessarily sooner uh Victor’s been on a from the day he was ruled out last year in whatever it was April May till now he’s followed pretty much the calendar of events that we thought would happen um and he’s worked really hard to get himself back into the lineup his eagerness and excitement about being back in is really healthy I thought he had a real good game um no one one game he’s going to have to do it over and over again but he completes the identity of that line they spent a lot of time talking and and analyzing how they play that’s I think makes them effective and he shown no signs of fatigue or anything else negative
Q: this is the healthiest the roster has been a year gee thanks is it harder or easier to make decisions now based on everyone being available
A: um it’s a mix some players made it easy some are making it harder some are making it clear both ways for and against their play um I I would be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about bringing all the banged up guys back at once Arvy’s played one game Durzi’s played two you know these guys are coming back in without a lot of um training camp time other teams are in that situation too so we just got to figure it out as we go
Q: when you were introduced as head coach you introduced the marathon metaphor now it’s the start of year four how far along is the club in that metaphorical Marathon compared to where you’d like
A: well we’ve settled into the race now we’ve climbed some hills we’ve got in some valleys I think in marathons there’s um players or players Runners that break away and sometimes the pack catches them again I would say we’re in that pack and um you know we’re no longer in miles one through five we’re way further into it but if crossing the finish line and putting a medal around your neck is the Stanley Cup Championship we we still have a lot of running to do