Emmitt Finnie, Todd McLellan Morning Skate Media | Dec. 8, 2025Morning Skate Media 12 8

Emmitt Finnie, Todd McLellan Morning Skate Media | Dec. 8, 2025Morning Skate Media 12 8

All right, so we’ll start with what does it mean to just play in front of your family? Obviously a sentimental bond you have with them to be there. Yeah, it’s great. Um, you know, they were in the game in Seattle. Um, you know, the other night. So, um, you know, I always like when they’re in the building and, you know, it’s good to be back home. What does it mean to play just the first time in Western Canada for you, I’m sure it brings back all sorts of memories no matter where you are. Yeah, it’s pretty special. Um, you know, growing up in Langley, I, you know, I got some good memories from the Canucks and, you know, going to their games. So, um, you know, there’s going to be lots of people in the building tonight for me. Um, you know, I’m excited for it. Todd was saying that you provide so much energy and that kind of that fighter mentality. Where does where does that stem from just in terms of your upbringing? Where does that come from? Yeah, it’s just being competitive growing up. I think um, you know, just, you know, I feel like I like to play with a lot of fire and lots of energy and and I think that’s just kind of how I was raised. When you have your your mom specifically in the building, we’ve highlighted kind of your relationship with her. How much more does it mean to kind of have her eyes on you as you’re kind of making this journey through it? You’re first in the Senate. Yeah, it’s very special. Um, you know, I wouldn’t be here without, you know, both my parents and, you know, my mom specifically. Um, I love having her, you know, in the building and, you know, I’m excited to play in front of her. Talk to a couple games now, even dating back to Boston that those teams been kind of back against the wall with deficits and then responded. What have you seen in sort of the resilience in the last couple of games that they’ve answered the bell? Well, we’re, you know, the good thing is we’re never really out of it. We have enough uh offense most nights that somebody can get out there and and um you know find a way to put one in the net and keep us close. Um the game in Seattle the other day I thought in the last 2 minutes or 3 minutes of the second the two-on-one made a huge difference to settle us down a little bit and we played a real good uh period in the third. But each game has its own events and and uh you know we’ve talked about resiliency. We’re never going to be perfect. Uh but if it’s not real good, can we uh find ways to play our B game for a little while until we find legs, hands, uh connectivity, whatever you might want to call it. And um over the last few games, we’ve been able to do that. Patrick Kane over a week ago is kind of having some struggles to get in the net. Then it feels like kind of the floodgates have opened. Have you noticed a difference in his game seeing just one go in now that it’s closer to these milestones? No, I remember you guys were all asking me if I was going to help him score and um I didn’t obviously. uh he found his his way to the net and um that’s just the way it happens. Like we can uh even the best of them go in spells where you think it’s just automatically going to go in. Hockeyy’s a hard game. It’s there’s so many factors that come into play and um the last guy we were worried about was whether Patrick Kane would ever score a goal again. You guys are about to kick off the Western Canada stretch of this road trip. What have you learned to appreciate about playing in these buildings over the years? Well, I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the, you know, the Western Conference and and the Pacific Division particularly my whole career. So, there’s a lot of real good rivals out here. Um, the buildings are each unique. Uh, the fan bases are um, you know, they’re crazy. They’re Canadian and they they really support their team strong. Um, so it’s a fun place to play. And then the other factor that sometimes gets talked about is the number of Canadians we have or other teams have. when you come to Canada, you get to play in front of family or around family often. And um it is a factor. Um you know, I I would never want to let my family members down and and maybe dig in a little bit more when you’re tired uh or you’re not feeling real good. Um so we invite all the parents out to the these three games. Two for two on the penalty kill against Seattle. Where have you seen some of the areas of growth from that unit as the season’s progressed here? Well, we I thought we started the year real strong. Um, and then we took a little bit of a dip. Uh, injury-wise, maybe even goalending wise in that situation, we seem to have got that back. Um, understanding our structure, our strike points, uh, faceoffs are such a huge factor on on the penalty kill. Um, just to tire that first unit out, make them skate up and down the ice once or twice goes a long, long way. And when we’re successful, we win those draws. Uh, when we’re not, we start in our end and the penalty killers get tired. So, um, still work to do there. Is it Gibson in that tonight? Yeah. Um, as you mentioned, first NHL game out west for uh for EMTT Finny tonight. Um, what can you tell me about what you’ve seen from him this year and the role that he’s playing on that first line? Oh, this is an easy one to talk about. He’s a wonderful young man. Like he’s u he’s got a a demeanor to him that gives off energy. Everybody gets energized when EMTT’s around him. He’s uh very coachable. Uh he’s a fighter. he’s had to scrap his way up from uh you know basically every league I from what I understand and he’s worked his way into our lineup now and never once have we uh contemplated you know does he need a rest should he come out should he watch a game which you often do with young players uh but his the pace of play his confidence with the puck um makes a big difference to our

Emmitt Finnie and Todd McLellan speak with the media following Detroit’s morning skate on Monday December 8, 2025.