Blue Jackets Are BACK HOME to Take on the Oilers! | Pregame Media

Blue Jackets Are BACK HOME to Take on the Oilers! | Pregame Media

All right. See, obviously not the way you guys wanted to start that trip out west, but you finished it with a good game in Edmonton, even though you lose, and then you get the result you guys wanted in Seattle. What are you guys taking from those last couple of games? Uh, I just think the way we played, I mean, even the Vancouver game, I thought we played really well. Um, we had some key mistakes at key times of the game, which can’t happen, but um, we just have to keep moving forward. I mean, we found a a big win in Seattle there. Played the right way, played hard, and um I feel like for a lot of that trip, we played the right way. It’s just those big mistakes we have to eliminate. So, um yeah, we’re excited to be back home now and just continue to play our game. What sort of conversations are you guys having or are you even having them about managing those situations you talked about? Yeah, I mean, we talk about them. It’s just one of those things where we talk about how we have to to kind of get those out of our game. That’s that’s what’s costing us right now. And um you know, we can’t just play 50 minutes or 55 minutes like it has to be a full 60-minute game. And um but we’re doing a lot of good things. I mean, it’s we got to stay positive in here and continue to play our game. Um you have to address it, but it’s it’s you don’t want to be negative, right? I mean, it’s we’re doing a lot of good things and we’re a good hockey team. And as crazy as that trip was for us, we’re still a point or two out of a playoff spot. So, the East is pretty wild right now. and um a lot of hockey left to be played. Unfortunately, no Boon Jenner for you guys. Tonight’s always a pain when the captain’s out, but you guys dealt with that last season and I think it’s no secret you stepped up in particular without Boon Jenner out. So, what’s the mindset now in this same situation? Yeah, it definitely sucks. I mean, you feel for them. Um and Goody, they missed a lot of time last year and it sucks that they’re out right now, but um yeah, just guys have to step up. We have a lot of depth in here. guys that can play in any role and uh play any amount of minutes and uh I think it’s just that next one up mentality and uh we’re going to approach it that way. A lot of hockey and not a lot of time for you guys these last couple of weeks and even looking forward as a player. How do you manage that both mentally and physically? Yeah, it’s fun. I mean that’s that’s why you play the game, right? Is to play these games and to be on the road with your teammates and be bouncing around and um I’ve really enjoyed it. I mean, this is the best time of the year and uh we’ve just enjoyed being around each other playing hockey games and um yeah, I mean, when you’re home, you try and get some downtime and relax a little bit, but whenever you get to the rink, it’s always a lot of fun. So, uh I think we’re enjoying it as a group right now. Speaking of being back home, what sort of boost does that give you when it comes to maybe that fatigue? Yeah. No, it’s great. I mean, we love being here at home and nationwide in front of our fans and um obviously one of the longer trips of the year and it’s nice to be back finally. Um should be a good crowd tonight against a good team and uh we’re excited to get back in front of them. You said it, a good team. You guys just saw the Oilers. So, what do you know about them? How do you need to shut them down? Yeah, it’s a really good hockey team. Obviously can score goals, have two of the best players in the world on their team. Um but it’s mostly about us and playing our game for 60 minutes and um I know it sounds a little bit cliche, but I feel like when we play our game and we play for a full 60, we can play with anyone. And um that’s our mindset tonight. All right, T, thanks for this. Good luck tonight. Y thanks a lot, Dean. What can you tell us about Boon Jenner? It doesn’t look like he’s going to play tonight, but do you have a sense for how long he may be out? Uh, no, I don’t have a sense, but yeah, he is not um tonight and um it’s not it’s not short term. Did he get hurt in that second period or was he trying to play through something that happened earlier? Uh I don’t know exactly when um it occurred um but it was in the game. Yeah. And you’ve been through this a bit before, but what is life going to be like without your captain? Uh, we’ve got a lot of leaders in that room. Um, you know, obviously Boon is a huge part of our group, our identity, all those things. Um, he drives our work ethic, no question. But we have other guys that do that as well. Um and we expect, you know, everybody to to do that and lead as he has and does um on a consistent basis. Will we miss him? Sure. Um no question. When you have a guy like that come out of your lineup, then you you need people to step up and we have no doubt that people will. Just go back to Seattle for a minute. Ken Johnson didn’t play. Was that illness related? He was not sick. He was not sick. He was not. What do you want to see in particular from Kent Johnson’s game? Just just some uh some compete, some bite. Um just uh sticking his nose in there. A little more little more north and south kind of thing like the way that you want to play Blue Jackets hockey. Yeah, he he knows exactly like we’ve we’ve had enough chats and as I think you guys know now, it’s that we’ve we talk and give the player the opportunity to um do the things that we believe he needs to do or a player needs to do in order to help us win hockey games. And if it consistently doesn’t happen, then that’s the end result. Um but he’ll play tonight. And one thing your team has really done well this year, it’s a huge jump is in faceoffs. What do you attribute the success to because you had center depth, but now you guys are starting to really see the numbers in your favor? Well, one they their attention to detail um you know, I think I know our coaches do a great job of teaching and and preparing them um for that. Does uh the personnel help to have Charlie Coyle and Lundstrom come in this year as as two centermen that are very good on faceoffs? Yeah, but the other guys have improved as well. Um, it was an area of concern for us um that we identified early and have worked on it a lot and fortunately we’ve been um you know good at it. We have to continue to do that. You didn’t know Edmonton played last night in Philly so they’re not without the built-ins. Uh but how big is the ask tonight coming back from that road trip with the travel day yesterday? Is it psychological? Is it physical? Is it both? You know what? Yeah, it’s the the with the Olympics obviously there’s so much condensed game. You know, we’ve talked about this. We’ve got I think we got 15 back to backs. I don’t know how many Edmonton has or other teams have, but um you know, the games are there. You you have to play them. The puck gets dropped and you play hard. and we had a similar situation obviously in Seattle and um you know our energy wasn’t as good as it uh it it could have been but um you know you you find ways to stay in hockey games which we did um you know Edmonton’s going to be the exact same obviously um we all get put in these positions and again when the puck’s dropped you just play hard and you may not have your exact stuff but it doesn’t matter you still you still do do the same things and the right things. Uh Greavves tonight. Does he start? Yeah. Okay. And can you is Elvis among those who has been sick? Was he sick the other night? Is he sick now or is it just a healthy decision? I’ll be honest with you, I think every guy in there has probably had a you know, and again, same as probably all of us. You get you get a little um under the you know, weather and um I think every guy in that room has probably had a little bit of sickness throughout the season. Is Greavves starting three in a row, though? Is that health related with on Elvis’s part? Um, nope. Uh, saw Edmonton the other night. You know what they can do, especially in transition, especially when certain guys are on the ice. Certain guys or one guy? Well, one guy stands out, obviously. Yeah, he stood out pretty good the other night, too. Call when you know what what they can do. Do you is this the rare team where you maybe have to think about doing something a little bit different? I don’t say schematically, but just attention to knowing when he’s out there, things like that. Or do you just play your game and maybe try to have even more attention to detail? Every team has special players, but um he’s super special player. So, yeah. Do we are we aware of, you know, the best players on every team? For sure. Do we try to do things um to hopefully um slow them down? Um yeah, every every team we we do that for. And is uh is this any different? No. But he is very special. And there’s no question that that hockey game he took over the other night. Um so yeah, do we have will we pay a little more attention here at home um with our matchups and what we do against him and obviously they’ve got many other weapons, but yeah, we’ll we’ll pay special attention to him. Dean, you you have a lot of guys even now that saw him for the played against McDavid for the first time the other night. Mhm. Uh but the last few years they’ve all seen him for the first time. a lot of your young guys. Is that speed, that power? Is that something you have to see? Like you can talk about it, you can show them film. Is it just different? No, sometimes you don’t actually see it cuz he’s just gone. So, you don’t really um I don’t know. You know, we talked about it the other night and um after the game and you know, you hear people say, “Well, why why doesn’t he get hit more?” Well, you know, when I played guy, they’d say that about Gretzky. Like, how come nobody hits him? like is is he that respected that you don’t you can’t hit him because you can’t catch him and Gretzky is a different element obviously. Um but McDavid’s speed is just it’s it’s incredible like he just does everything at such a high pace. Um you know that the one thing that you you have to do is you have to stay on the right side. Um because if you get on the wrong side you’re not catching them. Um so um yeah, we we We’ll try to do that. But to answer your question, um we’ve asked or had a few guys um talk about that speed and how incredible it is. So, so yeah, but you know, at the end of the day, he’s in the same league as they’re in. So, um you know, they’re pretty good players uh as well. So, um but yeah, it’s it’s fun to watch when we’re seeing highlights. It’s maybe not so much fun against us. Yeah. You say stay on the right side. The gap is just bigger though, right? Well, yeah. I mean, maybe you’ve ever played a gap. Yeah. Me personally, yes. As a player. Yeah. Yeah. No, it’s a Yeah, you just you just have to be way more aware obviously when he’s on the ice and um Yeah. You’re not slowing them down in any manner, but if you stay on the right side, maybe maybe you can try to get a stick on a puck or something. How would uh Stacy walk by Ashley speed compared to uh Stacy Walk to Connor? Or as he was known, Stacy walking right past me. Yeah, he had speed, but not speed like that. Um yeah, that’s a name from the past. I actually met with Dean Clark in uh Vancouver and Daryl Ray went into the Hall of Fame and um yeah, so lots of good old Cams Junior Oiler names and I don’t think people realize that that the Cams Blazers used to be the Cams Junior Oilers and we were owned by Edmonton and so yeah, I got a special spot for sure for uh for that jersey that they’re we’re facing tonight. Thanks guys.

Zach Werenski and Head Coach Dean Evason talk to the media ahead of tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.

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