Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert speaks with Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken open the season against Calgary (10/1)

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PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert speaks with Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken open the season against Calgary (10/1) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Mike. Lane, I know we've talked to you quite
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a bit throughout the training camp, but this is our
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: first official conversation with you. So welcome back. I know
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: obviously last year didn't end and go the way that
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: we all wanted it to go, but the summer does
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: bring some time for rest and reflection. Did you have
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a good summer? Were you able to decompress at all?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I know you hockey guys are always on, but did
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: you at least do something fun this summer?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: We had a long summer, so it took a while
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: to get over the stink Um, you know, are you
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: ever fully over it?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Probably not. But at the end of the day, we
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: have to turn the page. It's a fresh start.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: And, uh, you know, summer for me was about, you know, decompressing,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: spending time with my wife and kids, um, playing a
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: little golf. So, uh, you know, all those boxes were checked.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: After year one here for you, for Seattle, what did
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you learn about yourself as a coach and, and, and
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: what are those lessons that you took into the summer
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and then ultimately here in the training camp?
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Ah, You know, you do a lot of self-reflection. Of
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: course you do.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: You know, and there's certain areas, I guess, you know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: that I look and say, okay, maybe I could have
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: done this a little bit different. Maybe I could have
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: done that a little bit different. And there's a lot
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: of things where you're saying, okay, hey, wouldn't change a thing,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: you know. We beat a lot of teams last year,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: beat a lot of top teams last year. We're in
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: the playoffs for a long, long time. And, you know,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: we have to have a level of consistency this year.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: that goes for a complete 84 games. We fell off, obviously,
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: at the end, you know, and we're looking to have
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: that consistency.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: It was a short training camp, shorter than I think
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a lot of us were used to. What have you
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: learned about your team in the last two and a
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: half weeks? We got a good look at the younger players.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Now the vets, the core, the folks that you're used
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to seeing night in, night out are going to have
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: a chance to start this season. What have you learned
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: about your team these last couple weeks?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Well, I think that there's, you know, there's a real
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: motivation and a commitment to getting ready for the season.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I thought our guys, you know, starting with.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Our older players, encouraged everybody.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: To get back early. A lot of guys were back
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: by pretty much mid-August.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Skating together, you know, in preparation for this short training camp. And,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: you know, I think that that stems from, you know,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: the way the season finished and how upset everybody was
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: by that. Certainly there isn't anybody around that is more
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: upset than people inside.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: That locker room.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: So I do believe that from our standpoint, if you
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: look at the outside noise, which you don't listen to,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: it appears we have some stuff to prove to people,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: and I think our guys are ready for that challenge.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: With the older guys leading the charge of coming back
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: early and then you look at your group, the leadership
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: group that we have coming into the season, what does
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: that say about the culture of this team?
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Well, you know what? It's an ongoing process for sure.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Every team, every year, continues to work on developing a culture,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: especially a team that's been in existence for five years.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: There's been A decent amount.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Of turnover when you look at a, you know, a
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: first-year team that, and even a second-year team that's basically
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: made up all of that's, you know, there wasn't any
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: young kids, there wasn't any real draft prospects at that
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: particular time because, you know, the youth in the organization
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: was non-existent for the most part in year one.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: And a little bit in year two, you know, so.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: As people are moved out and as people are moved
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: in and you have signings, you know, free agent signings and,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: you know, you've got your Montours and your Stephensons, guys
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: like that, you know, the dynamic of the team changes
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: and you have to continue to work on culture and
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: that's what we spend a lot of time working on
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: this summer as a leadership group and as a coaching staff.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: We all set goals for ourselves individually, collectively going into
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the season. For you, what does a successful year look
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: like for the Kraken?
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I want us to be our best.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: And, you know, where does that take us? What does
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: that look like? You know, let's find out. But you
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: certainly can't be the best until you are your best.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And that's what we're looking to do. We're looking to
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: be consistent and play our game every night.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: What do you need to see from this team tonight
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to get year six of Kraken hockey started off on.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: The right foot? Well, I think, you know, we're going to.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Continue to to stress consistency but you know it's it's
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: going to be a high compete game uh you know
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: they're a big team i do believe they're going to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: come out and try and be physically uh overwhelming on
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: us and that can't happen um you know and i
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: i think.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: That we we need to combat that with you.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Know pack mentality and also use our speed we feel
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: like you know unfortunately sam muskevich isn't in the lineup
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: but we feel like we've increased our speed a little
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: bit here over the summer that's going to be a
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: big focus for us as we move forward is to
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: play fast.