“Today’s a new day” | Jeff Blashill Pregame 10.17.25

with with this group. I I know you mentioned the other night after St. Louis that it was a step. I mean, you didn’t want to build anything past that, but do you see a confidence building in this group, especially these young guys? There’s been some rough years here the last couple years. Yeah, I mean, I think um you know, I think confidence is uh is something that es and flows throughout a season. And um I think you know certainly you know when you’re playing good when you win when you score you know all those things uh help your your individual and team confidence but that can eb and flow through the season for sure. Um, you know, one of the things we talked about, uh, early on here and and I think even into the preseason, uh, is is not, you know, not, uh, bearing, um, you know, the the the or wearing, I guess, maybe the losses of previous years. Like those years aren’t here anymore. It’s a new year and you just kind of move forward. And I’m a big believer in, you know, you kind of you learn from, you know, the the day before, the the game before and then today’s a new day. And and that’s I’m a huge believer in that. And um and in just like after a good win, today’s a new day and and so we we you know, we spent some time this morning learning uh from from our game the other day and and uh now we got to go out and play a good hockey game. This league’s relentless. Um you know, you have to be great every single night in order to have a chance. Uh and so we got to make sure we come out with our best foot forward. Do you have some thoughts on just that the top line be able to create more chances for I know I know it’s getting some production but it seems like it’s still lopsided some of the attempts and scoring chances and that type of thing. Um I’d have to look at our internal numbers. I don’t pay much attention to uh some of the numbers that are that are out there externally. Um I only look at numbers I totally trust myself and and so those those are more internal. I think internally we’ve we’ve uh you know that line’s done a pretty good job. Um I I still think there’s a uh you know and room for uh giving up less chances. I think that’s the best way um to kind of uh change uh the the the difference uh the differentiation between for and against is is limiting um it’s hard to to outscore uh the chances against you know and or out chance the chances against and so you you have to start by making sure you’re limiting those chances against. Um, you know, I think, uh, uh, we’ve also run 70 a lot. So, with that, you don’t necessarily have you have consistent linemates, but the line, you know, it might take a there might be times where they’re playing with maybe somebody else. Certainly Connor’s been spent a decent amount of time with the green line. Um, and then and then, you know, sometimes I sub Frankie into that other line. So, it gets a little bit jumbled that way. But um you know I think individually on that line each player is is uh uh you know I’m sure Connor um Berky Docker they’re all I think trying to do the right things on a consistent basis. They’re constantly trying to play the right way. Um and in that you there’s nights you’re going to create more than others. But I’ve been I’ve been happy with their play. Did you have to um change attitudes at all uh when you came in? other players ever want to lose, but you know, when you’re in a rebuild, there’s a certain reality. And they’ve lost an awful lot of games last couple of years. Did you need to change attitudes at all about winning? You know, I don’t know. Winning is uh winning is a funny thing. Like I I don’t No, nobody has the attitude that they want to lose, you know? So, I don’t know that it’s that as much as um I guess a couple things we talked about was one um you know on when you look across the league at winning uh cultures, the the best players do it right consistently. And so, you know, we’ve challenged our best players to play winning hockey. Um you know, what is that? Uh that’s not cheating for offense. That’s checking for your offense, checking and and still being able to produce. Um and and so that’s one area. And then the two was just create a high standard of uh what’s expected in terms of day-to-day um work ethic, compete uh attention to detail. Um those things uh are extremely important and that started in training camp. So you know I’m not sure, you know, in terms of attitude per se, but but those two things have been something that’s been really important here that we’ve tried to implement. Uh um you know, we haven’t talked about the previous years. As I said earlier, to me that’s uh that’s in the past and uh let’s let’s move forward and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of taking steps in the right direction here. We got a lot of steps to go and we’re going to take some backwards, but for the most part we’ve done a good job of that. What’s Conor’s buy in level to that? Uh Conor’s been great. Conor’s been great. Um I can’t say enough good things about uh him as a person. Uh his competitiveness, his want to be a great player. um his understanding of uh how important it is that that he wants to win more than anything else. Um he wants to win more than score points. He wants to win um more than any than getting accolades. He just wants to win. And so he’s 100% bought into it. Um he he he accepts coaching uh whether it be privately or in front of the team and because he knows that’s part of the importance of of of building that that good culture. So um he along with the rest of the group have been really really good about all those things. We got guys that want to win. Now, it’s a process to get to that level, but I don’t doubt this group’s want to to do the things. It’s not about saying you want to win. It’s about doing the things it takes uh on a daily basis. And sometimes those things are hard and and our group has wanted to do those things on a daily basis. You mentioned before that it’s up to the team to keep morale up. Is it like the same idea you have with keeping composure after a big win in St. Louis like this? Yeah, you know, this is uh yeah, like I think composure, you know, it’s up to us in terms of our approach, you know, and um whether it be when you’ve lost a few uh keep keeping your head up and whether when you win, keeping your focus up, you know, and um we’re going to face a hungry team tonight that just had a good win last night and uh we’re going to have to come out and uh uh keep our foot on the gas and play play uh keep our process headed in the right direction. And if we don’t, you end up, you know, in a hurry. The thing goes the the other way. So, um, listen, we’re 22 and one, and, you know, we talked about it today, 22 and one’s not, uh, you know, a playoff team. 22 in1’s not where guys want to be. Uh, we had a we had a good win the other night. Um, uh, but that that’s over and let’s move forward here against Vancouver. How has Ryan Donado complimented moving down to that Dickinson McKay line? That line’s been really really good. Um, and and you know, I think all three components have been good on it, but I think what Ryan does is give them some scoring punch on that line. You know, Ryan’s a guy that can score on one shot. Um, uh, he doesn’t need volume necessarily. Um, and so I think he he’s been a kind of a good compliment on that line. You know, Ryan and I talked about making sure just like the rest of the team that we’re we’re we’re checking for our offense. And when you’re on that line, you have to check for your offense because enough times you’re out there in either Dzone situations or out against other teams, good players. So, um, not cheating for offense, but checking for offense. And I think he’s done a really good job of that. So, I think he’s been a good fit on that line. Do you expect Slagger in there tonight? Uh, Slags, uh, no, I don’t expect him to play tonight. No.

Head Coach Jeff Blashill discusses how the team is focusing on playing consistent, winning hockey and the competitiveness that Connor Bedard has.

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