RAW | Kris Knoblauch 11.28.25

RAW | Kris Knoblauch 11.28.25

Ros Levik, is he gonna play tomorrow? What’s his stats? No, he will not play. He will be um uh a couple weeks. Um we’re not anticipating him anytime soon. And uh he got banged up. Yes, Kaanin will be at least a week. Uh maybe several weeks. Uh we’re getting more information later, but um he won’t be anytime soon. Wman, uh Walman won’t play on Saturday. uh making progress maybe sometime next week, but uh I know we went on the ice today. Haven’t heard how it went, but uh yeah, we’re not expecting him to play Saturday. Hopefully, we can get them sometime next week. Not really what you need right now. How do you kind of avoid the dark cloud uh mentality? Yeah, it’s unfortunate losing those guys. We’re very optimistic getting guys back, Lazar, Nan Hopkins, Kapp, and those three coming back was uh was great news. And then we knew Wman was getting close, but um you know of those guys, Lazar and New Hopkins would be the only two and then you lose a couple guys. Um but it is what it is. We every team goes through injuries and you know when we’re not playing very well, we’re going to add some new life. Uh a little bit different dynamic with those players, but uh we’re going to just have to find a way uh with what we have. Chris, after the game against Dallas, you talked about instilling some hope into the group, not seeing a lot of positives after a game like that. How have these two practices gone for you? Have you seen a lot of that or does it have to happen in a game situation? No. Uh, I was really optimistic. Yesterday was a good practice um coming off a day off, but uh I really liked what I saw today. You know, it was much shorter, but the the tempo was good. um just the enthusiasm was at a level that I haven’t seen probably since camp. Um which is a great step and I think that’s probably the biggest thing that we need to improve upon is just you know feeling good about ourselves, belief in the team that we can win games and not dragging our feet and feeling sorry for ourselves because yeah we can be disappointed but I don’t think that’s helping us um moving forward. Uh yeah, everyone’s disappointed, but we need to think about how we’re going to improve and play better. And feeling yourself for sorry for yourself, you know, you can do that for a little while, but you got to move on. And uh you know, from what I saw today, I think guys have and um I like the attitude. You talked about, sorry, you talked about finding some priorities and things to work on. Is it the mental thing that’s the priority for this group or is there a systems thing that you’re working on fundamentally? Um there’s some things we looking at it. Um for system change, we’ve done one thing that’s would be a different system change. Everything else I think is more on emphasis on how our systems let us down. Why are we not executing it? And it might be just a tweak on moving a guy in a position two or three feet or having a stick in this location instead of this or an emphasis on this is your job. We need you to execute it because if you don’t do that, everything else falls apart. So, um, so changing systems, yeah, we’ve done a little bit, but mostly it’s just on emphasis on what’s needs to be executed. Uh, kind of talk about what you’ve seen from Clattenburg. I know it’s only been two games, but uh can you just kind of comment on what he’s brought to the table here? Well, enthusiasm. Um playing with uh just some energy and almost a little bit of a reckless abandonment. Uh which is which is a good thing to have. Um you know, obviously rewarded with a goal, but you know, he’s almost scored in uh two back-to-back games. And um you know when you play with that energy and that emotion you know things are it’s much easier to play and he’s made the most out of his situation and no one ever assumed that he would be in the NHL at this point in his career just coming off his junior career played a little bit in the American League and now he’s in the NHL and scoring a goal as soon as he did. um you know, credit to him and we knew that that player that he’s providing we thought was going to come down the road, but um you know, he’s worked so hard for it. And the game is so much about emotion and yes, coaches can talk about systems and executing a pass and all those details, but it comes mostly about passion and working hard and you know, he’s bringing it. So, love that from him. Sorry. to your point, I mean, he was a 150th pick a year and a half ago and he’s playing in the NHL his first two games here. What does that say about a guy like that, especially a guy who, you know, he doesn’t he hasn’t put up big numbers since he’s been drafted or anything? No. Uh, well, in fact, this morning we had some trivia for our team and one of the questions was which player is fifth in scoring in his draft class. You know, everyone’s thinking maybe it was Heyman and Dry Sidle or something like that, but uh, you know, it was Clattenberg. Clattenber’s fifth in his draft class with with his one. Um but um sorry to what was your question? Just just what does it say about him that he’s been able to you know get to the NHL so quickly after being selected 150th overall? Well, there’s different um every team needs different type of players and not only different type of players, but also different personalities. And you know, it’s um you know, it’s you can be a really good player, but maybe you’re not a good team player or you might not be coachable and you know, that makes it more difficult to find your spot. And um you know I think Connor Clattenberg is very coachable but also what he brings with his emotion um it’s it’s contagious and you know ultimately as a coach you want players that make other players better and you know you can look at um Leon Dryidle’s outstanding passer. He’s makes his teammates better through making those passes to set up goals. Connor carries the puck in the zone and makes a nice play and sets somebody up. He’s a makes them better. Bousard um makes a great exit pass on the breakouts. Um but you know there’s something about physicality bringing energy that you’re a team player. You are making other players better. You know, there’s many ways to do that and I’m seeing what Connor’s doing and um you know, it’s nice to have especially right now with the way our team is um needing that enjoyment, that excitement. Um so, yeah, he’s been good for us. Chris, uh in front of your own goal, um do you need more energy, more excitement positioning, protecting the puck, making it harder on the opposition in front of your net? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Um all of it. Um, yeah, there’s some saves that we want from our goalies, but I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job protecting them. And when your team is really dialed in and playing well defensively, they’re really tight, it makes the goalie’s job so easy. And um we haven’t played nearly that level um enough this year, whether it’s been for periods of games um little stretches, but uh overall we haven’t defended well enough. And that’s yeah, being stronger and making sure there’s not rebounds. We’re tying up sticks. uh making it harder for their defense or their forwards to get to the net with our defenseman boxing them out. Um have our forwards blocked enough shots? No. Um yeah, have we turned over pucks? Yes. Yeah, there’s a lot of things that we can do to help our goalenders and um now that being said, we do need them making some saves, but I think the biggest picture is what’s going on in front of them. Chris, will Stewarts get her tomorrow? We haven’t decided yet. And also, what has his team been missing with the absence of Randy? Oh, a lot of things. Um, you know, he’s a tremendous teammate. Uh, you know, we’ve had players uh joke that he’s my favorite player. Uh, just Ryan’s a very smart hockey player who you can rely on last minute of a game. Uh, he can provide some offense. He is an important part even though he is a secondary part on that power play. He is a he makes it run just with getting the puck in the right spots and you know Connor and Leon do a lot of moving around. He reads on what they’re going to do and he adjusts what position he needs to be in and what play is going to be made. Um, yeah, I go on and on about uh Ryan and the how valuable he is and we have missed him through the stretch not having him and it’ll be nice having him back because you know he can play on the top six on the wing or he can be our third line center. He can be our second line center if we want to play Connor and Leon together. So um very um I can yeah utilize him many ways and he’s very valuable. Do you feel like his teammates stand maybe a foot tall or whatever he’s in the lineup just because of how he is? Um, oh, I thought you were getting at how how tough he was that everyone’s feeling a little more confident. You know, Ryan doesn’t fight very often, but I know that a couple times he has. He’s got a a little bit of a temper and he is tough. Uh, I think that’s the Western Hockey League coming out in them. Uh but just with his play, we were talked earlier about players who make other players better. And uh Ryan is a player that just might not make the fancy plays. He’s not going to beat somebody one-on-one, but he’s a good player and he supports the puck. He’s in a good position so the defense can find somebody to make a pass to. And you know, he does so many things. If uh Ross Leick’s out this long, can we assume there’s a broken bone in the hand that he’s No, it’s nothing to do with his hand. There’s a broken bone there. No, no broken bone.

Kris shares injury updates following the team’s practice on Friday in Edmonton.