JT Compher, Todd McLellan Practice Media | Oct. 18, 2025

JT Compher, Todd McLellan Practice Media | Oct. 18, 2025

You guys have rattled off four wins in a row. What stood out to you from this streak and bouncing back from that opening night game? Um yeah, it was a good response after night one. Um you know, I think first and foremost, we’re getting really good goalending right now. Uh both those guys are playing really well and uh we’re finding different ways to win. Um comfortable and having third period leads and um whether it goes perfectly or not, kind of like last night, we let one in but we stick with it to get the two points. You guys feel like you’re starting to settle in as a group on the same basis in here to start the season? Is that process kind of ironing itself out? Yeah, I think you just continue to get more comfortable throughout the year and especially when you get put in hard situations uh together like last night um forced to bounce back and respond and you learn a lot about your teammates and your group as a whole when you have to go through stuff like that. How big has confidence been on the penalty kill? P mentioned that a little bit last night, but obviously you have the systems and the structure, but in terms of just the confidence, the offense stuff in the head, how big has that been for the group? Yeah, it’s all special teams. You know, when you’re doing it well and you get to watch those clips and see what it looks like when you’re doing it well, um it’s a little easier to keep it going. Um but, you know, every night on the PK is a challenge in this league. There’s so many good players and um we got to continue to be aggressive and um take away time and space from those guys that are super skilled. Another good test tomorrow in Edmonton. what do you see when you’re pre preparing for them and what can you guys do to finish this home stand on another winning note? Yeah, I mean it’s a team that’s been to cup finals two years in a row. One of the best teams in the league and uh it’s always a challenge. Um you know, we know about their top end talent, but they’re a deep team and uh it’s going to take everyone tomorrow. Hey JT, how important is it just to get up to this type of start? I mean, it’s got to build confidence, I would think. And considering the last couple years, I mean, just that kind of start, it’s got to feel good, I would think. Yeah. Um, you know, it’s it’s easier to learn when you’re winning, I would say. And, um, I think we still have things to improve on. Um, you know, working on faceoff plays today and being on the same page. So, there’s still a lot to work on and improve. And that’s the the daily goal. Um, you know, game day, practice day is to get better as a team. But um you know we’re doing a good job of managing games and uh that’s why we’re getting giving ourselves a chance to win games right now. Does the game when you dissect games from a win from a loss? Does that differ at all? Is there certain things that maybe emphasize differently or look at differently coming from a win or loss? Um you know it’s kind of whatever the coaching staff and and Todd wants us to take away from the game. Sometimes it’s things we did well. Sometimes it’s things we can work on. You know whether you win or lose um there’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad in every game. So, um, with being on a win streak, you want to stay even kill Keel and trying to improve every day. You think he’s a possibility for him? Well, I think he’s getting closer. Um, he’s still dayto-day. We, you know, he stayed out, did a little extra, so we’ll see how he feels after practice and in the morning. How much I mean, h how good is this for you is the confidence, Todd? I mean, just the winning four out of five the way you did against the teams, it’s got to it’s got to help us in terms of Well, yeah. You know what, the confidence is great. We’ve earned the right to feel good about ourselves. Um, but the the test, you know, we just don’t hand in the paper and walk away. That this test goes on forever and there’s tomorrow and then there’s the next day. And um, we can’t give anything back. We have to, and I’m not talking about wins and losses, we have to continue to move our team forward. I felt like today we could do we could add something to our game. Our practice probably looked a little different for for you guys. We could add something to it and get ahead. But the minute we give something back, we got to go fix things. And um you know, I’m probably I’m off on a tangent. Obviously, you asked me a question, but I’m trying to tie it into that confidence. And um you know being confident, being um feeling good about yourselves is a real good thing, but letting it slip uh sometimes comes with that. And uh we’re going to try and make sure that doesn’t happen. Is it easier to teach when you’re winning, playing well? Well, guys feel a little better about themselves. Um you know, it’s a it’s a catch 22. It depends where your team is. If you’re in a long losing streak, it’s it’s hard to be firm on them. Um sometimes like practice today, there’s a couple firm moments where we’re winning right now. You can be a little bit harder on them. Like uh again, we’re we don’t plan on giving anything back. We want to move our team forward. And that includes the 40 minutes in practice. And if you’re not going to go, then then don’t even come out. Uh but if you’re going to be out there, let’s move it forward. I think I’ve heard you say before that as winning streaks go on, you can let like teams can sometimes kind of let their game slip a little and maybe be surp Well, it’s it’s natural. Like, are we going to win until April 15th every game? No, we’re not. It just it’s impossible. Um, we’d like to keep winning as long as we can, but what ends up happening, I remember Jacqu Laair saying that your team is like uh your body. um you know, you’re you the germ gets into your body and four or five days later or four or five games later it shows up and all of a sudden your team is sick and it’s not playing well. Um it’s not what happens, you know, down the road. It’s what’s happening right now. We got to keep our thumb on on things and make sure that we’re sharp and we’re uh attentive to detail. We’re prepared to work and then when it’s time to rest, rest. And then uh for Larkin and Kane, were those maintenance days or is there any concern? Yeah. Um so I knew you guys were going to ask me all these things. Razer still dayto-day obviously. We talked about that. Larkin was a maintenance day. Uh Kainer won’t play tomorrow and he’ll continue to be evaluated. We’ll have an update on him as we go forward. Uh yeah. Are you going to stick with Gibson for tomorrow? Giby’s going to play tomorrow. And uh you know, we talked a lot about the rookies and you talk about tests early in the season. I mean, they they’ve already faced some of the the best players in the league in Toronto and some of the best teams, Florida, and then tomorrow you get even even a bigger test with with that team coming in. Just how eager are you to see how they fare against these elite players and elite teams? Well, that’s still, I guess, part of the evaluation process and so far they’ve done a real good job. um you know they are uh they they might be ahead of some people because of them playing those seven exhibition games that kind of really got them going. Uh but we’ll keep an eye on them. We have ton of confidence. I keep telling uh telling you that we have a ton of confidence in them. Um we try and work with each of them individually every day to to um you know help them with their games or reaffirm what they’re doing well already. and um you know they’re going to see Connor and Leon tomorrow and there will be times where they’ll be separate. There’ll be times when they’re playing together and um that sometimes is a is a big wakeup call to some of the younger players because they can as you know they can really go and affect the game but um we feel confident putting them out there. Just to kind of build on that obviously you coached McDavid and Dryside. How do you prepare maybe some of the younger players who have never played against them before? Well, they’ll they have some tendencies, but the last thing you want to do is scare the living daylights out of your your younger players. They, you know, they can’t go out there and play tentative and fearful, but uh both Connor and Leon have a few tendencies that will probably make our players aware of and then they’re going to have to play and they’re going to have to experience it. And um you know they’ve gone up as you mentioned against Matthews already and and Suzuki and Caulfield and and you know some of these players that are uh Braden Point perennial allstars and Olympic stars. They they faced some of these players already. So um you know tomorrow will be a couple others and um they’ll be fine. And then how far is a game like last night going to go towards John Gibson’s confidence, especially coming into a new situation after having played in Anaheim for so long? Yeah. See, I I didn’t I don’t know if I’ve mis completely misread this situation. I don’t think John Gibson lost his confidence. I don’t think that uh he was horrible. I think that that our team was awful night one. Our team was. And uh then then Talbs went on a good run. Uh Gibby came back. He looked confident last night. He played uh made some tremendous saves. He’s going to go back in tomorrow night. Um I don’t I don’t feel that. You guys ask me those questions. I don’t feel that. Maybe because I’ve known Gibby in the past and and seen him perform so often against us. Um I’ I’ve never felt that. You talked about focusing on the details and habits during practices and in the games. In terms of puck possession, how much of an emphasis has that been for this group? Well, if you have it, you know, the other team can’t score. That’s that’s normally what happens. Um, we’d like to have the puck where does it start off faceoffs, we’ve worked on that a little bit today. Um, you know, but puck possession, ever since the analytic world really blossomed, has been such a term that’s been used so much, but you can still possess the puck without having it on your stick. if you if you have to chip pucks into areas and then go work for it, you can still possess it that way. And I think sometimes it’s misleading uh to players, coaches, fans even about possession. What is it really? Um you want to be able to control your shift. And we’ve stressed that uh you know from day one uh with or without the puck. And and for me that’s sounds strange, but that’s possession. Tad, what was it like coaching those two guys? I mean, that’s a different level. I mean, yeah. Did they like to be challenged? How you were those two guys some of your hardest workers? It was um an outstanding experience. Um I get asked this all the time and you know, automatically I go to the human side first. They’re both unreal human beings. Um they really care about the game. They care about their teammates. They care about people that are outside of the game, fans, kids, uh, who whoever it might be. And then the way they play and and how they complement each other. Um, you know, they we had them when they were younger players. And and I’m going to say something right now and it’s not the same, but you know, they remind me of our young players coming in. They they came and they wanted to learn and they were hungry and we had confidence in playing them. Now that don’t write this. They’re not McDavid or Dry Settle. won’t put that pressure on our young guys cuz they’re not. But it feels like that a little bit. Real good human beings that are are um just like sponges right now. They want to do well. They’re taking it all in and that’s how Connor and Leon Darnell Nurse you could put in that group too because they all came up together at that time. Will uh with Kane out, will you move Bergen into that spot on with Casper and Debrink or? Uh we’re still trying to figure that part out. We got to you know, we don’t know if Raymond’s going to play. Um, we’ve got we’ve got pieces to figure out. So, um, I couldn’t tell you right now. And Kane is just an upper body injury or upper body injury. Yep. So, there’s a possibility you would need a forward. Well, we’re, you know, Larks is maintenance, so he’s we’re counting on him playing and we don’t know what Razer will, uh, you know, will be like. And, you know, 3:00 game doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t help you guys to to get your story out because you won’t know until we show up. And 3:00 doesn’t help the coaching staff plan because we got to have plan A, B, and C. Um, and we’ll approach it that way. Good. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah.

JT Compher and Todd McLellan speak with the media following Detroit’s practice on Saturday October 18, 2025 at the BELFOR Training Center.