12/6 Media Availability: Rick Tocchet

12/6 Media Availability: Rick Tocchet

Any update on Cam York? Uh, yeah, I just talked to him. Yes, it’s a still day-to-day thing. Is he an option for tomorrow? Slight option. You know, we’ll I’ll talk to him in the morning. How big of an absence is he against a team like Colorado that can kind of really put you on your heels sometimes? Yeah, he’s a mobile guy. You know, he plays all all pos, you know, all parts of the game, you know, special teams. And he’s with Sandy. You know, they usually check the other line. So yeah, it’s it’s going to be a big a big loss if he doesn’t play. But you know, like I said, it’s you know, you guys heard it before from everybody, next man up. That’s that’s why we play this game. You you you talked a little bit about Shawn Victoria last last week. What what was your awareness, I guess, of he took that shot in the arm, right? Did that affect him from your from your standpoint for maybe a little while and he played through it? Um I don’t know. I don’t think so. It was sore for a bit. Um, you know, I just think that uh, you know, you know, some sometimes I’ve played him I’ve played him 20 minutes. I think that can affect him and I got to I got to manage his minutes. I think that that will help him. Yeah, you did. I know you mentioned that also. You you were leaning on him pretty heavily early on and maybe his minutes are a little bit Yeah. Is that just a function of you’re relying more on guys like Torak now? Uh, yeah. But I I think that’s why it’s important you have balanced lines and you know I can’t always have him go over and say take take face offs. It’s it’s a it’s a grind you know to take a face off come off PK face off five on five you know it’s it’s hard to always start in your own end. So I’ve tried to you know when he was playing with when he was playing with me well when he is playing with me I try to get the more offensive draws that I think that has helped Coots lately but I can’t always just put them defensively because it’s a you know it’s a lot of grinding back there when you’re always taking face off in your own end. Do you like where his game is right now? Uh, Coots. Yeah. Yeah. He’s I think he’s done a nice job for us. You know, like I said, I think, you know, I think a veteran player like that, I got to just manage him a little bit better sometimes. They say the measure of a good goalie is how he reacts to a tough loss. Have you seen that in Dan this year that after he’s maybe gives up a couple of bad ones that he comes back? Yeah. No, I but he he’s the same guy like you know he’s first start one game he acts the same way if he had a bad game and he hasn’t had many of them. So that’s what I love. He’s a consistent guy even practice you know he’s still he’s still talking he’s still working at his game. So that’s that’s how I measure guys. What were your expectations before the season start like when you walked into camp versus now that has he exceeded that by how maybe by maybe by how much of Lart? Yeah. Um, I think I know he’s put the work in because I remember him in Calgary. I still think he was, you know, even in Calgary, he was a good goalie, but I know he’s put work in. You know, there’s stuff um he looks quicker. He looks, you know, gold mouth scrambles and stuff. He looks really big. Um, I don’t see a lot of, you know, what’s the word? You know, flipping, you know, over pursuing stuff like he’s, how many times where he’s made the second save, that’s when you know a goaliey’s dialed in. like, you know, he makes that initial and there’s a rebound or something, he’s in position for the rebound. Some some goalies are all in on a shot and the rebound goes in. I I I’ve seen so many times this year he’s been in position for the second shot, so you know he’s put his work in. He’s never played more than 30 games season. How do you kind of and I know Dilly will probably have the the larger say in that, but how do you meter the ice time for a guy who’s never gone through this process before? Yeah, it’s true because uh I think dur started first month, I think I played three three games or four games in a I can’t remember uncharted waters for him, right? So that’s why I wanted to give it to him early to see, you know, where how far he can you run with it before, you know, you get tired or something. So I think how do I know? I mean, you you know, obviously we got you got Erikson who’s a really good goalender and we feel comfortable with whoever starts. So can they share the load? That helps. But you know, obviously I I he’s got to play more than 30 games this year. It’s going to be his, you know, unless he gets knocking word hurt, but yeah. But do you meter practice time with him? Do you like you go over that with the strength and conditioning guys who are monitoring all that stuff, you know, his fitness levels so he doesn’t get tired so you have him at his best come March and April? Yeah, the the science guys do the trainers do a great job because I think it was a week or two he was in that hot zone because we played him a few games in a row. We had a couple practices. So that’s when you got to back off and be careful. You know that’s uh you know they we monitor that. You know it’s getting hot. you know, a lot lot of shots. The the game, you know, he was it was a stressful game for him. He’s played two in a row. We just had a practice. That fourth day is important because, you know, that’s where he can go down, right? You know, pull a groin or something can happen. So, that’s why we we look at these charts with with Salin. He was on the ice for for the full practice today. Even did a little bit of extra work with uh with Jules and and Zamola afterwards. Wasn’t on the ice for practice on with the group on Thursday, though. Is he gonna be out there pretty much every day from now on or are you guys gonna stagger it with like some days he’ll he’ll miss some days? Well, because we’re playing every other day, but he’ll pro he’ll be in our practice, but he’s going to get some alone time because we, you know, I guess from here to Christmas almost play every other day. So, there might be some times we don’t practice. So, that’s the one thing that sucks. He’s coming he’s, you know, he’s cutting close. He’s not going to get the benefit of having, you know, three practices. You know, during the start of the year, we had three practice in a row. all, you know, that’s where you really can go have, you know, rehab better because you’re with the team. It’s hard when you’re by yourself pushing and shoving with the coaches. So, we’re going to have to monitor that. But, yeah, he he’ll be with us now team practices. Nick Sealer’s um he we talked about the playing 900 tomorrow. Nick Sealer is going to play 400. Yeah. For someone who plays a game like he does and who also I don’t know if you know his backstory, but he he’s he didn’t play for a full year. um he decided to step away from the game for a little bit and didn’t play. What’s it say about him to hit It’s not like the 900, but it’s still pretty impressive 900. Yeah, he’s just he’s a he’s a you talk about a team guy uh team first guy he is it right and um it’s a it’s a great goal for him because like you said that I didn’t even know that he stepped away from the game to be honest. Um to me it’s impressive just the way you know he plays the game, plays it hard, he plays it honest and he he makes players himself and his players accountable and that’s what I love him in the room. He’s he’s a great culture guy. He’s he’s looks like he might be playing with Sanheim if Cam York can’t play. He’s very much a defensive defenseman and he’s he he thrives on that, but he has some offensive skill that he doesn’t really show because he’s so focused on being a defensive guy. Do you do you want to see him maybe take that step a little bit in the offensive side? Yeah, I’ll do like you know, we we don’t you know, we still don’t want to defer just resetting the puck. You know, we we encourage to make a move at the blue line or get the puck the middle and shoot it. So, and he’s tried to do that for sure. Um, and you know, whether he plays with Sandy, I think there’s going to be a mixed bag tomorrow. I think with Todd, um, he’s going to he’s going to probably have to throw some different looks at Colorado. I don’t think you you know, there might be some switch pairs every once in a while. I think we’re going to have to do that. I know with the Avalanche, you said they they really play north and Yeah, I know they have an insane talent level, but is that somewhat of the blueprint for how you would like to play is to consistently get up all of a sudden and play north? Well, they they they we call hunt the hash. I mean, they they like to attack the middle of the ice and they like to draw you to them and then what do they do? They hit the weak side. They’re they’re one of the best teams at hitting the weak side, right? So, that’s a that’s why we’re going to have to be very disciplined in our diesel. We can’t chase them around because they’ll hit the weak side and that’s tougher on a goalie. So, um and that’s what we’re trying to do, you know, we’re trying to get encourage players to to to hunt the middle and then that’s when the coverage breaks on. Then you make your play from there. Whether it’s a kick out, whether it’s a shot, whether it’s a weak side play, but if you stay on the outside and you’re not penetrating like, you know, the perfect guy you guys have seen him more is McKinnon. He never you I never see him going down the wall. He always attacks the middle and then he makes his play from there. So, we encourage that all the time. And I I think we’re getting better at it. I do. when you go into a game like this where you know everybody knows how good Colorado is and how good they’ve been to start the year like are you are you more excited to see how your guys match up or are you more nervous to see you know how the how they could struggle against a team this good? I’m really excited to see our team like this is a welcome game for us to see where we’re at to see uh you know obviously we’re gonna have to really you know I don’t want to say stick to the system like to assist where there’s some stuff that we have to stick to if you want to beat this club but I also want I don’t want us backing off like that’s the worst thing you play Colorado we don’t want to get beat that’s the worst thing going to this game but you want to attack this team um you just got to be um calculated in how you do it right and Um, that’s what we’re going to try to do. You know, what what can we give them that benefits us, not not they’re going to take what they want from us. It’s it’s it’s a reverse for me. So, we want to be very aggressive to them to uh tomorrow. Day games always seem a little hard to get into. Yeah. Right. Because there’s no more skate. There’s no getting the legs really warmed up beforehand. Like, how do you how do you look at that when you’re playing such a strong team and you want to have such a good start? Like, what’s kind of the message? How do you maybe get that quick start when Yeah. It’s hard to like get into a game on during a day game. I always try sometimes to put my player hat on when I play. And I know afternoon games for me, I prepared a little bit different. I would work a little bit harder in in the warm-up, even before the warm-up. I, you know, I’d be in the gym. You want to wake yourself up, maybe get almost be sweating before you even get warm-up. I think that’s that’s what worked for me. Some guys are different, but I I do believe that some teams are better at day games. I don’t you know, I wasn’t I don’t know what their record or it’s a new new year, but some teams are better at 1:00 than others. And I think that’s a mental thing for me. And that’s a a responsibility as an individual to be ready to play. That’s how I look at

Hear from head coach Rick Tocchet following Saturday’s practice.