[ad_1]
With the approach of the off season, do you feel that the window is still open for you to win a championship as it is?
Rutherford: I do not think so, but the window is still open. I think it should also be open for more than a year. I'll say it's obvious, depending on how things ended, we will not be able to do it the way we're done.
Sidney Crosby The most frustrating thing about what happened is that you understand what New York was going to do and they did it anyway. Why?
Sullivan: I think these are two reasons. First, you have to recognize the Islanders, they played a good run. I think to a certain extent, we have fought in many circumstances with our lack of commitment to play the game the right way. We talk about it all season long and to win the playoffs, you can not be a high risk team. You must have some discipline in your game on both sides of the puck. It is not always about scoring goals. I know there has been a lot of talk about the fact that we have not scored. But when I look at how the series was played, it's not so much that we did not score goals, it's just some of the opportunities we've given to our opponent: exceptional quality, and we did not force them to work for that. As a result, when you give someone as many as 2-in-1, for example, there are chances of quality. NHL players will score goals. There is some discipline and diligence associated with victory at this time of year, and as a group we all have to shoulder our responsibilities because we have not lived up to it.
With the onset of the off season, can you describe your approach? How much do you think the changes should be and what are your perspectives?
Rutherford: I do not know yet, because we are still a little moved by the disappointment of knowing how it ended. I think the best thing for me to do is take some time to think about that. I am meeting as many people as possible with influence on our organization, from coaches to hockey teams to owners. It will take a little time to solve this problem. And then you have to make big decisions. Obviously, there will be changes in our team. I'm just going to talk a little more about Sully's answer, to play correctly. When we look at our team this year, the inconsistency – we still have 100 points, but it was not a comfortable score of 100 points. Our team played as a team in March. We had a difficult schedule. We had a lot of games. We played the game as it should and we played at our best. We wanted to be a good team in the playoffs, then we came up against a more determined team, who played the game properly and we played at a higher risk. It was there. We saw it in March. And that could certainly be there in the future. But it will not be exactly the same team.
In anticipation of the 2016 and 2017 seasons, many of the moves you have made have made your team faster. And it seems that many movements since have not necessarily done so. I'm just wondering what you think of this philosophy. Do you think you have to come back?
Rutherford: Did you go to games? Do you think (Jared) McCann and (Nick) Bjugstad can skate?
Reporter: Yes.
Rutherford: So what's your point of view?
Reporter: Maybe in defense.
Rutherford: In defense? D & # 39; agreement. So who are you referring to in terms of defense and who we give up to skate better than our guys?
Reporter: (Trevor) Daley and say, (Ben) Lovejoy are better skaters than (Jack) Johnson and (Erik) Gudbranson.
Rutherford: (laughs) Well, you do not have much sense. I think our defense is probably the best since I've been here as a group. You still like mobile advocates, you like guys who can move the puck. We have at least one guy on every couple who can move the puck. Now we have guys who can get a little perspective. At one point, you asked me if we had enough guys to go back. Now, you ask me if I have enough guys who can have speed. If you find these guys, they make $ 15 million a year and there are none.
Jim, you have very few guys who are free agents this summer. Normally, it would be a good thing. But if you have to rearrange this list, it could make your job difficult. What kind of post does this put you in?
Rutherford: No different. I mean, we have a lot of good players and players who have good resumes – players who won the Stanley Cup and players who have contributed a lot to that. So, depending on the changes we decide to make, we have valuable assets to make some of these changes.
Mike, if the message stays the same: if the players do not play as you wish, is it just a matter of more responsibility? That you hold them responsible or that they stick to it?
Sullivan: I think it's a bit of both. As coaches, we will certainly follow a process like every summer and we will look at the league and some of the trends and how teams play in different aspects of their game. And (in terms of) what the best practices Quote without quote are around the league, we go through this process after each season. We will do it again as a coach to see from a tactical point of view if it is necessary to adjust or modify the game system or the strategies we have been trying to deploy. here with our group. That said, we tried to put together a game plan that would give our main players the best chance to succeed based on their strengths. That's what we talked about from the first day when I became head coach of this team. That's what we tried to do from season to season. That said, the challenge is to ensure that there is one hundred percent participation in programming. I think the part of our identity that we have lost a bit is the "hard to play" aspect. We can look at past experiences to try and learn, and we can look at the current experience to learn. When we were successful as a group with this same core of players, we were a team capable of scoring goals. But I think what went unnoticed or not discussed much was that we were hard to face. We had a back pressure on the puck. We had sticks. We defended hard. We have limited opportunities on the net. Our game had all kinds of aspects that made us a difficult team to face. This is a long answer to your question, but (regarding) the identity of this group, to succeed, you must become a difficult team to face. Everyone must be held responsible. And everyone must take possession of it.
Where do you think you lost the buy-in?
Sullivan: It's a hard question to answer. Because we had periods where there was a lot of buy-in and we got results as a result. I think what was frustrating from the point of view of our coaching staff and I give an indication of that is the inconsistency of our season. Just the consistency from day to day, game after game, playing the game the right way that gives us the best chance of winning.
Does the process, the formula, the strategy, the staff, the way you have won in 2016 and 2017 – is it still the goal to reach or if you adjust according to what you see works, and do you have a business? still idea what the next championship race might look like in these respects?
Sullivan: Again, I do not have a definitive answer to give you because I think part of this process involves due diligence and an attempt to find the best way to play considering of this particular group of players. That we have. That's the discussion we've had as a coach and with Jim season after season trying to form a team capable of supporting this core group and the style of play we're trying to play. We will look at it this season. And as I said, we will do our own due diligence as a coach. We are going to watch the league. We will examine our own team and try to see if there are areas of our game where we know we can be better. For sure. But should we change our strategies to try to maximize the group we have.
Rutherford: In the years you're referring to, we won, we were a team. We were a very close team. And I have not seen it this year since the first day. I did not see when our guys got together as a team. And I wonder if it's because there are too many guys happy with the advancement of their career after winning two Stanley Cups. And is this a sign where some of that needs to be changed, where do you have that eagerness again? There are a lot of different things between the Islanders and the Penguins, and the reason the Islanders have won four straight games is because they played well and they were impatient. to win. They were determined. And the penguins were not.
Can you talk about your working relationship between the type of guy Jim is acquiring and the type of guy Mike wants to play? What are the exchanges and dynamics?
Rutherford: Well, this working relationship is extremely good because I do not do any business on my own. I do not just decide to swap for someone and say, "Hey Mike, there will be two new guys in the room tomorrow, try to find a way to get them playing." Our staff is always together and one hundred percent of any final decision I make regarding players who are brought in and players that we think can improve our team. And I think the players that were added this year – (Marcus) Pettersson and McCann and Bjugstad and Gudbranson – in different ways, for what they bring and what they do best, have improved our team.
Sullivan: From my point of view, I'm not sure I can add anything that Jim has not already said. But I think we have a great working relationship. Jim is a good communicator. He encourages our contribution and our comments. I think in all the discussions we've had since we've been together, we tend to see the game in the same way. And given the group of players we have and trying to maximize this group of players, with the core group we have, I think we share the same vision on how to play stylistically to maximize the group.
Mike, you talked about this March period when you played the right way and got that identity. 71 and 58 were not there for a very long time. When they came back, did the guys get too confident, like (Evgeni Malkin) and (Kris) Letang are going to do what they do so we can be riskier because they're going to score goals? Have they somehow lost responsibility as a group because of that?
Sullivan: Listen, we can all speculate on why he evolved in the same way. In reality, you try to understand the mentalities of players and teams. Human nature is difficult to understand sometimes. This is one of the biggest challenges of coaching. But what I will say is that I think that when the key players fall, there is a certain level of urgency associated with the rest of the group that everyone has to protect themselves and make sure they play well, because we can not win. And I think we have to try to apply the same state of mind when we have a full complement and now we have something. I think it is our challenge to go forward, that is, we must become a team that is part of his identity is a team with which it is difficult to play and which means a lot of things. But if you take the example of the month of March, I thought our team was hard to face. Our goals against were down. We limited the odd races against. We made good decisions with the puck. There was a cooperative effort. And there was commitment and competition. That's what it takes to win.
Jim, Matt Murray has a year more on his contract after this year. You have sometimes done it in advance, as you did with Jake (Guentzel). Is it a priority for you to do something with Matt this summer?
Rutherford: I can not give you a good answer. I have not had to think about it yet. I have a number of other things to deal with first. But you're right, I sometimes jump on it. I will take a look at it when the time comes.
[ad_2]
Source link