Cam Talbot, John Gibson, Todd McLellan Practice Media | Dec. 3, 2025

Cam Talbot, John Gibson, Todd McLellan Practice Media | Dec. 3, 2025

you guys are about to embark on your longest roadach of the season. What’s the mentality and mindset of you guys going into this trip? Uh, you know, bring the the game that we’ve had at home and and establish a good road game. Um, you know, I think that we’re a team that we’ve got, uh, a lot of depth and, you know, we can play um, you know, any of our lines against any teams on the road, so we don’t got to worry about matching up and stuff like that and you trust every guy that’s out there. So, just get a good start to the road trip tomorrow in Columbus and uh, carry it on throughout the trip. Elements of a road game. What do good elements look like for this group? Uh, get off to good starts and tough buildings. Obviously, you want to take away the other team’s momentum right off the bat. Um, you know, play simple, smart hockey. Obviously, you don’t want to give the other team any momentum in their own arena. Um, get pucks out of uh, you know, get pucks out at our blue line, get pucks in deep, get get on the forjack, establish, you know, our game down low, getting pucks to the net, getting bodies to the net, just creating havoc and uh, winning battles in front of both nefrs. And, um, that’s recipe for success for us. You’ve been a guy who’s been out west all over the league and travel I guess when it adds up you know this west coast west western caner travel how do you mentally and physically just adjust to that? Yeah I mean I’ve it’s it’s not an easy trip obviously a lot of time change a lot of uh late nights getting in and stuff like that. So it’s managing your sleep schedule first and foremost um managing nutrition um hydration all that kind of stuff plays into what kind of product you put on the ice. So, uh, just taking care of your B, taking care of yourself, taking care of your body on and off the ice and and making sure that, uh, you’re putting yourself in a good situation whenever the puck drops. Another excellent opportunity, too, for this close-knit group to bond, I’m sure. I guess how much does that go into these road trips and helping make that time go faster and easier? Oh, absolutely. I mean, anytime you can get on the road and and, uh, you know, get a few days with the boys, it’s it’s always a good thing, right? So, uh, team bonding, team camaraderie, I mean, the best teams I’ve been a part of, that’s a core mentality of those groups. And I think that we’ve done a good job to this point of of doing that as a group. And obviously we had a long home stretch in in November there. So it’ be nice to get back on the road, get get together with the guys and uh you know get uh keep the good feeling going in here after the big win last night. And you and Gibby have essentially shared the net this season. How has it been working with him and just your guys’ tandem this season? It’s been great. I mean you know we’re guys two guys are just pushing each other. We’ve both been around a long time and and know how to prepare for games and uh it doesn’t matter who’s in the net. we’re going to support each other and and uh we both want what’s best for this team. So, uh it’s been a great great working relationship with him and um you know, again, nice to get on the road, get to spend some time with him. He’s got kids here, I got kids, so you don’t get a lot of time at home. So, anytime you get on the road and get to spend some time with your your partner and the boys, it’s it’s always fun. Thanks, CS. Yep. Appreciate it. I’m used to them. So, what do you do? I mean, I think it’s a hard question. I mean, it kind of depends where you are, so you kind of just take what’s what’s given. But I mean, you think you ask anybody watch movies or shows or whatever? Any picture of the show you’re into right now or? Um, no. I got to find one. I I finished them all early in the year, so I got to find one for this. And I know you take everything game by game, but just to get a a win again. How good did that feel? Yeah, it was good. Nothing. Do you feel like you’re kind of you feel like you’re getting your Not yet. Only won one game in the last however many. So still room for improvement. How disappointing was that? Obviously. Well, I’m going to bring just the losses and I don’t think anybody likes to lose. So when you’re coming into a new team, I know you’ve been here a couple months now, but is a trip like this still give just to a little extra bonding time or such or? Yeah, I mean it’s always nice to get a road trip, but also I think it’s a big road trip for us. So, we got to put the points together and obviously want to get off to a good start and uh got a big win here before the road trip. So, hopefully we can carry that on into tomorrow night in Columbus and make it a good road trip. Do you recall what the longest trip you would have had was in Anaheim? Like Oh, early on I think I had like a 17 day or I had we had a couple long ones. There was always I think early on in my career mostly you did like two or three East Coast trips. We’re doing two, six or seven gamers. Nothing out of the ordinary. How’d you pack for a 17 day road trip? Um, I mean, I don’t think it’s as bad as you think. I mean, you bring a couple suits and dress shirts and that kills the games and then couple of outfits for going out to dinner and I think you ask anybody, you’re probably going to wear something. With the uh just the parody in the East, especially as division teams closely bunched together, is it feeling different playing on the road? Maybe not quite as daunting maybe as as these trips has been before. No, I mean, I think it’s I think it’s pretty similar. I mean, yeah, we’re going to play the West teams, but you see how close the East is, and we don’t want to lose ground. We want to kind of make up ground. So, like I said, I mean, it’s a good road trip and hopefully we can uh come away with as many wins as we can. Gibby Talps talked about how he’s enjoyed sharing the net with you and just learning and bouncing ideas off each other. How have you appreciated your tandem so far? Yeah, I mean, I think similar to what he said, it just kind of both been around a while, played a lot of games, so just kind of use each other for feedback and friendly competition. Todd, just a couple of days ago, we were talking about parody in here and you mentioned the road. Does that make a game a trip like this I mean were you on away so much a little less daunting that maybe than in the past? Um my answer would be no but that’s just me as an individual. Uh I don’t think about the standings really right now on the how how tight it is. I just think about the games that we have to play and um you know six of them in whatever it is 10 nights or nine nights. That’s not an easy load but it’s something that we’re capable of handling. we went on this segment of uh trip or part of it last year and had success with the same type of schedule. So, um I think it’ll be good for our team to get out. Um as I said last night, we haven’t we’ve been gone, but we haven’t really been gone since we got back from uh California and Vegas. So, uh we’re looking forward to it and we just got to play one game at a time. I think every coach in the league would tell you that right now. We’re we’re not looking at the standings because you go from first to seventh in one night without even playing. So, it really doesn’t matter. And from last night, I mean, how repeatable do you think that start is because that really set a tone. It did. Um, you know, I thought our third period in Boston set us up for the first period in um Detroit. Played a good third period there. We solved some of the issues that we had coming through the neutral zone and we established a for check and then it it carried over into the game. Um, you know, we’d like to extend it further. We didn’t want to put ourselves in in the situation that we ended up in down the stretch, but as I said, we still still are learning and um fixing things, but we did it with a win. Yes. Um just getting contributions lately from offensively and defensively. JVR Rasmusen last night, Bernard Docker. Just how important is that going to be going forward, especially on this trip to take the load off the the guys that that you count on every night? Well, and that was going to be my answer. We we you know, we want to put pressure on our top players to score. That’s that’s what they do and they do a real good job and have done a real good job of it. We don’t want that to disappear. uh but we can’t expect them to carry the the load, you know, on their shoulders throughout the whole year. And we’ve been able to give ourselves an opportunity at some wins here over the last little bit. I I even think in um in Jersey with the type of game that we played and the contributions from our bottom six forwards, if you want to call them that, um yeah, maybe didn’t get the goals, but we created a lot of chances and opportunities off of that. Um, so the goal scorers last night, they were um, you know, from from the unusual characters, if you will, is welcomed. Uh, but some that didn’t score also played a pretty solid game. I think of the Danielson, Casper, Solderblum line. They’ve had two real good games together. Um, you know, and hopefully they can carry that on as well and eventually get rewarded, but it it it’s essential. It looked like Rasmmanson was good. Yeah, he looked good in in practice today. He he lost a little feeling and strength yesterday when he got hit and I don’t think it was an injury. It was just something pinched and it’s back now and away we go. You’ve done so many of these West Coast trips when you guys were going the other direction. Is it a good bonding opportunity for the team and whatnot when it’s you’re on the road that long? The best bonding trip is a winning one, you know, no matter where you go. Um, we always talk about that before we leave and we hope it comes to fruition, but if you if you suck the whole trip, well, it’s not a lot of fun bonding like that. So, there are opportunities for the players to get out and and get together and have team dinners and and all that stuff that we talk about all the time, but the best bonding trip is is a winning trip. So, how does uh Todd Mlullen and Trent Yanni attack the road? You already got your restaurants in mind or what? Uh well, we need our rest so um a nice soft bed and we’ve our our hours will be uh similar to what they are here, but with the time change, it it can take its toll, but um you know, for both Yans and I and I guess it would just be Yons and I and the on the staff, we’ve spent basically our entire career in the in the Western Conference. So, um, you know, families out there too and that type of stuff, but the the team, the preparation, um, the guidance takes precedent over any of that stuff. High state house in Calgary. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a few. What does Rasm’s best game look like in your eyes? Rasm’s best game. Oh, he’s actually played a couple of them. Like if you if you think about um you take his game last night like the he looked faster, he looked more confident, he looked bigger, he looked stronger, he went to the net. Um he did that in Boston. Uh it’s not just because he scored the goals, but he looks he certainly looks confident now. I think sitting out a little bit and healing up from his injury has helped him. Um he’s just visually looks um really excited about playing right now and that’s that’s a good thing. Powerful, drives the net, protects pucks. Um he’s going to score some ugly goals, faceoffs, reliable penalty killer. You know, those would be the descriptors for uh for Ras for the most part. I guess I was wondering partly like is it about hanging on to pucks and being able to take themself or is it more about being in the I’m sure it’s both always, but being in the area it’s going to be a combination. When you’re when you have that that amount of size, you should be able to hold on to pucks long enough to to keep plays alive to to create for your line mates. And then when you don’t have it, can you get to a spot where you create chaos or occupy uh important real estate, if you will? And um and Copper did that last night. You think of Moe’s goal, he occupied important ice just long enough to for us to get rewarded. It wasn’t off on the side where it’s not so important. It was important ice. And then with Marco, he kind of took off last year when he was with Dylan and Lucas. I know EMTT’s done a good job for you guys there, but have you thought about giving him a look there to to spark him at all? Um I I like Marco’s game over the last four or five. I I like the line that he’s playing on. Uh I think they’ve been productive. Uh they’ve had multiple scoring chances. Um Ebott’s done a good job with the with the other two. Um there is um a lot of hockey left. That opportunity may come uh to the forefront. Um but the last for the most part the last six periods give or take a few minutes here or there uh we’ve liked how our lines have looked and we haven’t been real consistent with them um you know since early in the year on a road trip like this where you’re crossing time zone late late nights how essential is that support staff that is helping the team and o over the years for you as as a coach how have you seen that small army evolve on teams? Well, for and I’m looking around here for those of you that are, you know, lucky or unlucky, it depends how you look at it, to travel with us, you see the work that goes on behind the scenes with everybody from equipment to u nutrition to the, you know, getting the bodies ready, the the therapy, all that type of stuff, even the skills coaches. Um, everybody’s there to service the players so that they can play their best. And um I think this staff here does an outstanding job. They have every um every tool they need. Um and they’re committed to it. So our players certainly don’t go without and um there’s no excuses, zero excuses because our staff does such a good job. Do you nutrition advice? I mean Lisa’s pretty Yeah, she drops off um healthy cookies apparently. I like them. Good.

Cam Talbot, John Gibson, and Todd McLellan speak with the media following Detroit’s practice on Wednesday December 3, 2025.