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Doug Armstrong Full Press Conference On Firing Craig Berube · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Just start off by by the announcement that we made last
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night after the game that we made a coaching change.
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Drew Bannerster will come in on the interim basis and serve as
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head coach. Starting at tomorrow's game.
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I will start the process of looking for a permanent
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replacement. There's no timeline on that and
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there'll be no updates on that as I'm going through it.
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It will. We'll announce it when we
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announce it. We went through this five or six
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years ago and you know if if good play will will dictate a
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lot of things. Bad play will dictate a lot of
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things at the player level, at at at all levels of our
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organization. Obviously I'd like to thank
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Craig. He, he and I started to work
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together in 2016. He came in as a a coach of our
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American Hockey League affiliated team came up here as
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an associate coach help right a ship and take it to a
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championship. We've we've built a friendship
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over the years and it's difficult to to have that talk
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with him last night. He's a true professional.
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We we talked a little bit. We had a beer.
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We reminisce for a second and now my job is to move forward
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and Craig. Craig will now regroup and he'll
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land on his feet. He he's too good of a coach not
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to be in this league and I feel personally responsible for the
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situation that we're in and I also hope that the the people
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that I just talked to feel personally responsible to.
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If they don't that that's that's that's their decision but it's
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not it's not a great day but it's a it's a new day and now we
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move forward. I can answer any questions that
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anyone may have. We saw you go to the game last
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night thinking if things didn't go to lose way that maybe a
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coaching change is coming. I I I would say that I haven't
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really slept much since the Columbus game then the Chicago
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game was a sleepless night and then you hope that the Detroit
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game will be different but your mind is starting to work when
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you're when you're everybody's homecoming game you know it's
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it's not a good feeling and the last three games I shared it I
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think with the leadership group that when you when you get up
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and you read the clippings the next day and and the players
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from the opposition the coaches are what a character win what a
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gutsy win. I can't believe we did that last
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night. We're undermanned.
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We played the night before against Arrested Team, so if
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they feel that way about their performance, how would we feel
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about our performance? Not I personally didn't feel
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well about our performance. And you you try and extend
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someone you have as much respect for and Craig as much latitude
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and and rope as possible. But last night's game against a
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depleted Detroit team that was tired looked a lot like a
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depleted Columbus team that was tired and a depleted Chicago
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team and there just wasn't a feeling that there was something
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that was going to change today. If we just came in and went back
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to work, that would make tomorrow different.
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Now. I don't know if tomorrow's going
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to be different. I just know one of the things
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that has been removed from the equation that that we can focus
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on it was the head coach and now the the everything.
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When when you make that change, everything gets, you know, we're
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getting now to the center of the hourglass and that that's
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myself, that's and that's the players you said.
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You feel personally responsible. What do you specifically feel
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personally responsible for? Well that that we're that we're
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not a successful franchise. Again these these are things
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that you you you contemplate as as you as you're with an
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organization you you come to an organization because you want to
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you make it better and you want to leave it in a better spot.
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When I got here in O 8, you know we were better for a long time.
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If I get fired in the next hour or I get hit by a bus in the
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next hour, I don't feel today I've left it any better than
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where I found it and that, and that's an awful feeling.
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Entering the season, you kind of knew this was going to be a
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retool rebuilds. Up until last week, you're in
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playoffs. About.
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What more would you have wanted from from Craig?
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Not, not from Craig. This isn't a what I would have
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liked to seen from our team was a more consistent game.
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It's uncomfortable when you go to the arena every night and
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you're not really sure what your team is going to look like.
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You're not really sure what to expect.
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That's something that we haven't felt here for a long time.
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I I don't want to dwell on last year but so last year we we
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entered the season with the glass half full thinking it's
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the last dance. You know we we've got veteran
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players on one year deals and they're going to go out with the
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blaze of glory and we just didn't find any footing you know
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and and so we made changes but if you look at the last 82 games
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plus however many this year 110 ish games like our power plays
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at or near the bottom. Our penalty kill is at or near
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the bottom and our point totals at or near the bottom.
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At some point you have to make changes and it's not something I
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wanted to do it's not something that I that I wanted to start
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the season in or or having to do.
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But it's a it's an area where we find ourselves that you know the
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definition of insanity. Keep doing the same thing and
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think things are going to change and it cost.
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It cost a great man his his his role on the team to be because
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things weren't changing your. Message gets stale or it's time
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for a new voice. How do you gauge that?
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You talk to players. How do you know if that's indeed
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true? Well I would say by what you see
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on the ice that that's that's the the greatest indicator.
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Craig and I like all manager we talk every day and I was in
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Europe for two weeks and we would talk and what's the
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message going to be today. And I always loved the message
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and then I would set my alarm for 3:00 AM and I get up and
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watch the game and what the message was wasn't transpiring
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on the ice And and I look at games over the last little while
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and and the two games to come to, to the forefront for me were
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the Phoenix game and the Buffalo game where we outscored the
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opposition but we didn't win the game if that makes any sense.
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Like we outscored who we played. But you didn't walk away saying
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we outplayed that team. We won that game and there was
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more nights than not where I felt we didn't win the game.
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You're you're you're going to be the better team in this league
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and lose. That happens.
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Goalies going to stand on their head, pucks it a shaft, pucks it
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a a post. Things just go your way.
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But we didn't win enough small battles during a game to win
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enough games. Not by the score, but by, but by
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the the eye test of you were a better team.
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Just to clarify though. You did you speak with any of
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the players? About what they were hearing and
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receiving, End of the message and.
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Whether that wasn't translated, no, no, I the the player's job
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is to play. My job is to observe and and and
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react. No I, I no, I I I don't want to.
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The players didn't come in and say fire Craig, Ruby and will be
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better. Doug, is it fair?
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Is it fair to critique the collective?
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DNA. Whether it's Petra, Piranha or
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Riley and Barbie, all these guys who are gone is the team lost a
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little bit of that grit that was the identity for a while.
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Yeah, yeah. It it it has and and there's
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been attrition just because that that's the way the salary cap
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works and some players we we we tried very hard to keep and it
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didn't work out and some players we didn't try that hard to keep
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and it didn't work out but that that's around the league that
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happens everywhere I I I get let's keep the band together
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till 2040 it doesn't work that way and so we we we've moved on
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and but there's a responsibility of the guys that are here to
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continue that and that's where I go back to.
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I don't believe, as I said today, that I'm leaving this
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right now. This group isn't better than
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when I found it, and if I feel that way, I assume the players
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in the room that weren't here for the glory have to feel even
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worse. You said this isn't about last
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year, it's about the current, but last November you said that
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Ruby is a good coach, makes younger players better, veteran
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players, winner. And the coach wasn't the
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problem. Just what do you believe has
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changed since then? Well, we were, we were.
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We were a team that was expected to be good with veteran players
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that he had, that he had gotten the most out of.
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We had again 110 points the year before and we're talking what
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would that be four or five weeks into the season, You know, So
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what, what has changed? A year has changed, a year of
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information has changed on the, you mentioned the special teams
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and how they let this team down. What do you expect now from
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group coming in and and do you expect some of those
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responsibilities to change among your assistants and and did you
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consider making changes across the board with the staff or you
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know how'd you look at that? I have made a change.
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I haven't really told anybody but Brad Richards I talked to
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he's he he came on board a few days ago.
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He's going to work as a consultant for us from a
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distance. He'll wake up in the morning and
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see our Power Play clips. He'll talk to to Steve Odd who
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runs the power play about what they're seeing.
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It's just it's just another Ave. and another voice from the
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outside. Sometimes you you can't see the
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forest for the tree and I'm hoping Brad can bring in a a
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different perspective. Obviously a a great player, a
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champion, a player that excelled on the power play and it might
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not work. I don't know.
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But but doing nothing didn't seem like the right the right
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Ave. Now I'm sure Drew's going to
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come in with different ideas. You know I'm not my job is not
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to tell Drew how to organize his staff.
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That's Drew's job, to organize his staff and he'll he'll work
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with the guys and he'll. I'm not.
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I'm not trying to pass the buck, Andy, but I'm going to tell him
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what I see and then he's going to have to make the decisions he
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thinks to make it better. You can call this a retool you.
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Said, call it re whatever does. This move signify a change in
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terms of. Retool versus rebuild or where?
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You are in that process. No, it's refocused now in in in
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the we don't as I said our ebbs and flows are are too great.
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I I know the talent level on this team.
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I know the talent level that Colorado has.
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I know the talent level we have. There's there's there's a half a
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letter grade to a letter grade different.
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They have how many first, how many top five overall picks on
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their team. They should be good.
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It's their turn to be good. But if you get to the postseason
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you can beat them. We almost did a couple years
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ago. Maybe we might have if there
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wasn't injuries play part of the game.
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But injuries could happen to if we get into the playoffs, they
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could happen to whoever we play in the first round too.
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So this is this is more of a a refocus that the way we play the
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game right now isn't good enough on a nightly basis.
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You know you the ebbs and flows of our game are too emotional.
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We're we're you you. You can't give up like one turns
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into three where one turns into one.
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On a lot of good teams, one goal against turns into three goals
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against with our group right now and over the last little while
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too often we saw it last night. You how many get you know we saw
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it against Vegas at home 31 and and 11.
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Something bad happens we didn't have.
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We don't have the ability to to to change that flow, to stop
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that and move it the other direction.
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It builds and compounds and compounds and then you get to a
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point where you fool yourself. Well, I shouldn't say where.
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Where people may get fooled is that?
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Yeah, but the shot totals were close.
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Well, when the game, when, when the opposition in my opinion, is
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up by two goals, the game's over.
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You can come back on those games, but don't take a lot of
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credit because you had twice as many shots.
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When you're up by two goals, that's fool's gold, that's
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loser, That's loser's hockey. That's the mentality, Like,
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like, I can't wait to go down by three.
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So now I can just play the way I want and that's what we talked
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about. 31, you know, or 41 becomes 4/2.
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They pull the goal, it's 52. Another guy gets a goal 5/3 and
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the wrong guys say to themselves, well, I had
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one-on-one that was a good night.
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Well, they're wrong. That's not a good night.
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The. Long lines of the retool that
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Frank asked about. You have a plan to be
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competitive while you do this. You've stated that clearly.
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Is it as feasible as you thought it was going into this year?
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Now that you've seen 28 games, can you continue down the path
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that your goal? So I I I think that we have a
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higher level. I I think we we we're a better
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team than than our our play indicates, I don't know if we're
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a better team than our record indicates I really don't but I
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know we're a better team than our play indicates.
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And I think those ebbs and flows are are what I'm looking to to
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minimize. And then you know what If we're
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not good enough, we're not good enough.
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But I I arrogance ignorance. I can't believe that anyone
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could put up those last three rosters that we played and our
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rosters and think we should lose all three of those games.
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When? You talk about the desire.
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To make a change. How do you weigh whether that's
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a roster? Change, or whether it is
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ultimately got a coaching. To change roster changes are
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hard to make. That's not I I I'm not I I've
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talked to teams I I've seen what what's out there.
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I've seen what what you're able to do.
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You know. Nope.
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Nope. Nobody nobody should feel safe
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in in our group right now. I I I mean a player wise,
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management wise. Obviously the coach.
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The coach has been changed. It's it's if if we could move
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you know chairs in the Titanic I guess we would.
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It's harder to do so. This wasn't a decision that was
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made. The players are doing their
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best. We just got a bad coach that
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that's by far not how I feel. I know the players have said in
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the past that coaching wasn't the problem and it was intensity
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and compete. What has been their response to
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this move? I assume you've talked to them
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what have. What have you said to them and
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what's your message to them? Well I I I think again having
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we've been removed from the white noise for a couple of
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weeks in Europe it's it's not something that you want to hear
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as a manager that we just didn't prepare to play tonight or we
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just didn't have it tonight like that's there's there's things in
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in your career and your job every day in your life every day
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that you control and preparing to work as one of them and
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working hard as the other. I don't care what you do it for
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a living. So when you, when you when you
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face people that ask you that question and say, yeah, just
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didn't prepare today, wasn't, wasn't, you know, just didn't
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have it today and you say it time and time and time again, it
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gets people's attention. It got my attention.
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Categorize Craig's reaction. Was he surprised at all?
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And any relief? Maybe when it's not.
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Working. No no no relief.
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He's a competitor. There's there's as I as I said,
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I waited till the dust settled after the game last night.
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I went in, I closed the door. We had a beer.
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He said I'm not I I get it. You know we talked about.
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I thanked him for everything that he's done for me personally
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and everything he's done for the organization.
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Craig's been in the NHLA long time.
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He's not Joe Sakic. He didn't get drafted by one
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team and stay with one team and then manage one team member.
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The wire retire with one team he had.
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He had a great playing career with multiple destinations.
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He's coached in multiple places. I think he understands that
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we're all in management and coaching just one day closer to
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getting that phone call you don't want to get.
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But I I think when he, I I know he he, he, he didn't want the
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information but I don't think he was shocked that we had it.
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We had that the that is the decision made that was out of
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his control. When did you talk?
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To Tom Stoneman and what was his reaction?
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To I I talk to Tom all the time. I don't want to get into
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specifics obviously I I don't make this decision without his
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knowledge and his support but I think you know a a timeline
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isn't isn't something that I need to share with people from
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Tom and I what do you want in a in your next head coach is is
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prior NHL head coaching experience important?
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What? What?
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Are you looking for? I'm going to be wide open.
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I'm going to be open minded on that.
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What what we want to stress as we're going through whatever
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we're going through now is a level of compete and a level of
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accountability and whoever, starting with Drew tomorrow
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night, that's his mandate, accountability and compete.
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And those will be that can come with a guy that's never coached
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a game in the NHL or that can come with a guy with 1000 game
19:46
in the NHL. But it has to be, that has to be
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at the forefront of of what what I think will help us turn this
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around. Perhaps you can find a guy who
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brings you both, but how? How is the?
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Say it again. He has to bring us both.
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How do you? Balance finding a person who can
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come in and get the most out of your current roster, but also
20:08
looking for somebody who can be the best for your future with
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all these young assets. Well, it it's going to that's
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going to be the relationship that we talk about is, is what's
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your vision on making younger players better and and holding
20:23
them accountable and and getting the best out of current players.
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It's not an easy job, but it's not an impossible job.
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Again, I'm not bringing somebody in to say I want you to develop
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all these guys that we drafted last year, next year and oh by
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the way I expect to win the Cup too.
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Like you know there there's there's going to be give and
20:45
take. But what we don't have to give
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and take on is our accountability to each other and
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that that that is player driven management observed.
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If you look at this roster as it being good enough to get the
21:04
playoffs team. Is this a playoff roster.
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Yeah I I mean but we're also not a playoff like I I don't know
21:10
any like when it when I said where I think we fit in with the
21:15
other teams I think we fit in there.
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You know, I, I, you know, do maybe maybe I I shouldn't
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believe in the guys as much as they believe in them and their
21:23
resumes and what they've done. But I look around the league
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like there's some teams that that are ahead of us right now
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that I don't look on paper and say wow, like we have no chance
21:34
to compete with them. You know, maybe three or four
21:38
teams at the top of the league, but not not the the whole
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league, Doug. When we move like this happens,
21:45
a lot of the focus is on the highest paid players on the
21:47
team. How would you evaluate the
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performance so far this year from Thomas and Kyber?
21:54
Well well Jordan's not scoring to the level that he's he's paid
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to score at. You know be disingenuous to say
22:01
that that he is he's getting chances and and and you can go
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you know the chances will turn into goals at some point.
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So Jordan there's there's a different level for Jordan.
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He knows it. We all know it.
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He'll get to I I believe he'll get to it.
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I would say it's hard. It's hard to not like what
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Roberts done most of the year. Like he plays against the other
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team's top players, top scorer kills penalties decent on
22:32
faceoffs, cares like you know but but so Robert and Jordan
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they're like, again, I'm I'm not here to throw Jordan Kyrie run
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to the bus by any stretch but this wouldn't be if he
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envisioned where do I want to be at this point in the year.
22:54
He wouldn't say that I'm right where I want to be and our job
22:58
is now to get him where he wants to get to.
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Are you confident you can get it back on track?
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You talk about it not being as good as you want to get to be
23:06
better than when you got here? Are you confident you can?
23:08
Fix this. Yeah.
23:11
I'm in my own abilities. Yeah I I am confident that I
23:14
that that I can get. I I I know what we need to do.
23:18
What we need to look like, you know, and and again to me, it's
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not just based on wins and losses.
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It's it's based on like Saint Louis, they're smart, you know
23:30
the the the fans are smart. They know when they leave the
23:33
building whether they got their money's worth.
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It's not hard, you know, and we got to give them their money's
23:39
worth on a more consistent effort.
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And if you're going to take 2 1/2 hours out of your night to
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turn on a hockey game, you should be.
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You should feel that it's worth your while.
23:52
And I I don't think we do that enough right now and we don't do
23:55
it long enough in games. And that's that's not, that's
24:00
that's not a winning brand of hockey and that's not a winning
24:02
culture for an organization you mentioned.
24:05
That no one in the organization should feel safe.
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Do you personally feel worried about your job security?
24:09
No, I mean I don't control that. So again, I'm a big believer in
24:13
you just control what you can control.
24:15
So if I if I my direction to the players is you can control.
24:20
If you come to work today and how hard you work and your
24:23
attitude towards your teammates, well, I I can control.
24:27
If I what my attitude is. When I get to work I can control
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how hard I work. When I'm here, I can control my
24:34
schedule on do I, do I go out and do my job or do I sit at
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home. I I believe in my I'm I'm going
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to I'm going to work as hard as I can until I'm told no longer
24:47
to work here. It's.
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True the I'm the coach for the rest of the.
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Season. No, no, it's it's as I said, I'm
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not going to have weekly updates.
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He he's I'm going to get to know Drew and as I'm getting to know
25:01
Drew, I'm going to, I'm going to see what's going on around the
25:03
league. I'm not going to rush into
25:05
anything and Drew knows that. It's it's his job to come in
25:09
here and and do what Craig did the last time he was he was
25:14
here. You know, all of a sudden he
25:17
became the front runner and he became the runner and he became
25:20
the man. Is he a candidate for the job
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and how did you come to that decision to turn things over to
25:27
him? He, as I said, he's a candidate
25:28
for the job because the job's wide open.
25:35
When when I, when I looked at our our, our current staff, we
25:39
didn't have anyone that had head coaching experience on that
25:41
staff. And it's a different animal
25:45
being a head coach than an assistant coach.
25:48
There's dealing with, with, with you find people everyday.
25:53
There's there's just different things.
25:55
And I and I just felt that Drew's done this in the Ontario
25:58
Hockey League. He's done this in the American
26:00
Hockey League. He's he's put in the
26:03
foundational groundwork to be given this opportunity and he
26:09
was willing to to to bet on himself.
26:14
But yeah, I'll come in on a short term.
26:16
I'll come in on an interim basis and I'll show what I can do to
26:19
go out and think that I could go to Coach X.
26:24
You put the name there and say, yeah, do you want to come in?
26:27
And I'll give you 4 months. They're going to say, I think
26:30
I'll take a hard pass on that. So it it it's the situation that
26:34
we're in and Drew Drew's excited about the opportunity and then
26:38
that filters down Daniel to Chuck's excited about the
26:40
opportunity to take Springfield like it, You know, one door
26:44
closes, one door opens. Now we'll we'll find out how we
26:46
all do. So there's been a system change
26:48
and a coaching change for that unit defensively we've met over
26:52
the summer. He talked about it could be a
26:54
one off. With what happened last year
26:56
could be something that is a little bit more than that.
26:58
How do you evaluate what your defensive course looks?
27:00
Like so far this season. Well, I I, I would say our team
27:07
is inconsistent. They're better games this year
27:11
look like look better than their better games last year you know
27:15
if that if that makes any sense like I've seen I've seen a
27:22
resurgence in in in and the numbers might not dictate Tory
27:25
crew like Tory crew might be one of the most competitive players
27:29
we have on a nightly basis. People may agree or disagree or
27:34
but I I just see a guy that comes in now and and he's
27:37
maximizing what he can do. I think Colton Perrinco has has
27:42
proven to to I don't know. I don't know if he's proven
27:48
anything to people in Saint Louis.
27:49
He's proven to people around the league like he was an Olympic
27:52
candidate for Canada for a reason.
27:54
He's he's playing to that caliber of hockey now.
27:56
So I and there's other guys that are playing to the caliber that
27:59
so there there's I've seen better play from more guys than
28:04
I saw better play from last year.
28:07
But when our team game suffers, they're the ones that look the
28:10
worst, them and the goalie look the worst.
28:13
And our variance on a nightly basis is is what's concerning.
28:18
Look, if you don't like what you see the rest of the year, are
28:21
you competent in your ability to make some moves considering the
28:25
contract situation? Yeah, and and these aren't
28:30
threats. I mean threat.
28:31
Who cares about threats there? There's there's a reason I don't
28:36
want to say this correctly. You know I'm not against buying
28:42
players out. You know it's not it's not
28:44
something that you feel it is your first course of action.
28:48
But I'm also not against if players aren't pulling their
28:51
weight they go to the American Hockey League, that that.
28:55
You know that that's and if we have to put players in American
28:59
Hockey League 31 other teams get to decide are they worth that
29:03
amount of money. And what's going to happen is if
29:09
if we get to that point, it'll be some teams like the player
29:14
that can't afford them. And then we go to work and see
29:15
if we can find a way to to to make it work for everybody.
29:22
But really nothing can be off the table as far as responses.
29:25
Now for for for management you. Need to make another hire in
29:31
Springfield? No, what we've decided to do
29:34
there is we have a a strong development staff with Chris
29:38
Thorburn, Matt D'agostini, Glenn Wesley and Stewie as the goalie
29:45
coach. We have enough.
29:46
Those guys are in there. We have somebody in there every
29:48
week with those guys. So those guys will serve as the
29:51
second assistant. I I'm not looking to reinvent
29:53
the wheel. There's a comfort level with
29:54
those guys. So they can go out like Glenn
29:58
for the runs, the D, he can go out and watch the D as he's
30:02
doing that. And then his week there, he'll
30:03
jump on the ice and behind the bench.
30:05
And I guess if they're listening, this is the first
30:09
they're hearing about that. But this will be part of their
30:12
job responsibilities moving forward.
30:14
Doug, it's obvious Chief and and Jacob, Veronica, they weren't on
30:16
the same page. If if Veronica clears today,
30:19
will he go down or will he say yes?
30:21
He'll go down, yeah. Doug, you had a strong group of
30:25
veterans in 2019 the last time this.
30:27
Happened. Just how big?
30:28
Is it for these veterans and older guys to step up and kind
30:31
of take the reins in the locker room right now?
30:33
Well, that you you what what you would like to see is the
30:38
accountability factor. You know what they believe is
30:41
their responsibilities and what they don't believe is their
30:44
responsibility. Excuse me.
30:47
Some will feel that that wasn't my area like that and some will
30:51
feel they let the guy down. You know, I, I I believe, I
30:59
believe in the leadership. I believe in certain players,
31:02
but I always go back to it. Nobody really cares what I
31:05
believe. It's what they do and we're
31:07
going to find out what they do starting to morning.
31:10
You had you had to fire Hitch, but famously you guys stay
31:13
friends over the years. Still, you envision that what
31:15
you do over the years is that unique to hockey, where most
31:17
places you get fired, you never talk with a guy.
31:21
Again, I I would assume we'll stay friends.
31:24
Again, from my perspective, we'll stay friends.
31:27
No, I'm not changing addresses either.
31:29
You know, when I got fired in Dallas, I stayed friends with
31:33
Mr. Hicks. I thought he he was a he's a
31:35
really good man and he gave me a great opportunity and he made it
31:38
a business decision it didn't like.
31:40
He wasn't a good guy on Tuesday and he fired me and became a bad
31:43
guy Wednesday. There was enough equity built up
31:46
that he made a decision. My view of Craig is not going to
31:51
change, but my view on Craig was never based on was he a good or
31:54
a bad hockey coach. You know, that was a benefit.
31:57
You know that's how we got to meet each other.
31:59
But but. I, you know, my view on Craig is
32:01
him as a man and as a person and as and that that that won't
32:06
change. Now I again, I can't speak for
32:08
him, but if you're asking me if nothing will change as far as my
32:12
personal relationship with him moving forward, and that's all I
32:15
can answer, Sir. It's for myself.
32:18
Why didn't it work? For him, this.
32:23
Season and what led to the decision was I I came in after
32:27
the would have been the Chicago game.
32:30
We had a day off and I came in and his name wasn't on the board
32:34
to to play last night and I've talked to the player.
32:39
I've talked to the representative and there there
32:43
becomes a point where you you start to feel like you're
32:46
hampering a guy's career. You know you're he wants to play
32:50
hockey and I and it wasn't working here for whatever reason
32:56
and I just felt I'm going to I'm going to see if I can find you a
32:59
new home where you're going to get that fresh opportunity to
33:02
play. I we've done that in the past
33:06
with different guys that have come to me and said I'm not
33:09
playing enough. I have a career can you help me.
33:13
And my my job is to say yes I'll help you or no I don't care.
33:18
Like you're more important to me sitting in the stands and then
33:23
you are and a lot of the players that that that move on in those
33:29
situations are because it's a it's a joint decision and you're
33:35
you're trying to help someone's career or or not not help their
33:39
career you're not trying to derail their career.
33:42
So it felt like we were derailing Jacob's career.
33:47
And I want to give me, I hope I hopefully he gets claimed today
33:52
and then and I hope he goes and he plays well somewhere.
33:54
Like I don't get any benefit of guys not playing good.
33:57
Well like what I I I, you know, obviously I wish Waldman and
34:01
Fabri didn't score last night, but I root for him.
34:04
You know what? They're they're good people.
34:06
I like them. I want to see him have success.
34:08
You know, like David Pran and I talked last night, he sat with
34:11
me for a while. Like the IT it's part of the
34:15
business. It doesn't make people good or
34:17
bad people. It's just part of the business.
34:20
You mentioned earlier how smart Blues fans are, but there is a
34:23
portion of the fan. Base this morning.
34:25
That is saying you drafted these guys, you signed the players on
34:28
this roster. What is your message?
34:30
To those fans today that I that I believe in in in these
34:36
players, you know my my name is on everyone's contract, Craig's
34:40
contract, the coaches contracts, the scouts contracts, the
34:44
trainers contracts and the players contracts.
34:46
So this is my problem now. I believe that with a a change
34:53
may spark a different result. And again, I think they're smart
34:59
enough to realize what the what a different result looks like.
35:03
And then it doesn't have to be a win and a loss.
35:06
And that's what I'll be judged on.
35:08
And I I believe, I believe in my ability to manage hockey teams.
35:13
I believe in the knowledge I've accumulated over 30 years and
35:21
I'm, you know, you don't sleep last night, but I'm excited to
35:25
go back to work today. That's and I'm excited to work
35:28
here until they tell me not to work here.
35:29
That's that's just sort of what we signed up for it.
35:32
And I'm going to do that until they tell me not to.
35:35
But I believe in myself and that's that's all I can say is
35:39
whether other people believe me or not, I again, I can't
35:42
control. That's why I don't get consumed
35:43
by it. Make conversation with true
35:45
bands. They're like and did you give
35:46
him any sort of? Expectations of what you want to
35:48
see from the team doing the end of the season.
35:50
Yeah, I talked to him last night after the game.
35:52
I told him I was going to go down and talk to Craig after I
35:55
had made a decision. I said do you want the
35:59
opportunity? And what I'm looking for is
36:03
increased passion and increased accountability.
36:06
And he said I'm up for the challenge.
36:09
I've I've, I've coached my whole life to get this opportunity and
36:12
I'm going to make the most of it.
36:15
It's the nature of the business. Either you're right off into the
36:17
sunset or most coaches have a day like this.
36:19
How do you hope St. Louis remembers Craig Ruby's
36:21
tenure as he? Coach, I guarantee I know how
36:24
they're going to remember it. I don't have to think he's he's
36:27
the guy that raided the ship that brought us a Stanley Cup.
36:30
And again, I don't vote for who goes in the Blues Hall of Fame.
36:37
Or maybe I do. I don't even remember.
36:39
But, but he he's on my ballot. You know he he's done something
36:45
that great coaches bore before him have never been able to do
36:49
And not only did it for a year the next year we were a top team
36:53
self-serving. I throw out the COVID year it
36:55
was a joke. You know we played seven teams
36:58
and you know and then the next year we came back with 110
37:01
points. So he goes Stanley Cup top team
37:05
in the league. Toss away the COVID year 110
37:09
points. It's a pretty good record.
37:11
It's a lot of wins. And so we're we're all, we're
37:16
all remembered today by what we did yesterday.
37:19
But in in a year or in a month or maybe by the end of the
37:23
weekend, Craig Ruby won't be remembered what happened against
37:26
the Red Wings. It'll be remembered what
37:28
happened in the five years prior to that.
37:33
OK. Thanks everybody.