Don Granato After Practice Interview (1/2/2024)
Good to be back how you doing good to be feeling better that’s for sure yeah much better thank you yeah so what the last few days for you as you um had to be away and and know Seth mentioned to us that you were on FaceTime calls and get
Involved you know as much as you possibly yeah I mean obviously uh you’re dealing dealing with an illness um and and that can take you out of it for a bit uh which it did but uh you the moments where you’re feeling good you’re you’re engaged and obviously watching
Close uh what was you know what’s transpiring um still and and offering anything you can um reminiscent of uh covid really um I think I had two two stints uh out during the co era um and uh very similar to that obviously um a baseline of what you can do and what you
Could potentially contribute remotely obviously with uh with zoom and interaction like that um and then you know in even in game you feel sometimes a little bit like uh you know you’re watching and you feel like I would imagine how you would uh up in a press
Box or um you know as a defensive coordinator or something like that I guess um so yeah different absolutely a different perspective uh when it came you know Puck droping game time and um you know fortunate we have uh you know we were able to U have Seth come in and
And uh keep keep everybody in their spots and keep keep moving with some continuity how important was that to keep everybody in their spots because it was backto back games and assistant coaches do have a lot of Duties especially in backto Back Games don’t they yeah you know I mean Seth and I
Have been close for years um you know we’ve run teams uh very similar and and we talk a lot uh we talk a lot through the season we talk a lot at training camp um you know even in Camp a lot of the head coaching responsibilities I
Would delegate to to to apps and SE Seth when he’s here um so it it’s just natural and we did it during covid if you can remember I can remember when I went in a CO protocol in Pittsburgh I said to Kevin right away just to have
Seth get we got to get Seth here as quick as we can everything else can stay the same uh and I think he drove about 100 miles an hour to Pittsburgh that day uh and made it um but that’s the point keep keep everything the same Seth’s in
The routine of a head coach so you you know all the details and all the things you got to think of and moving parts and pieces uh so you know he’s done it every day this year as a head coach so for him there’s no change for him um and he has
The support of all the other guys that are here every day so the context of it and uh you know with that I thought that was uh you know obviously Kevin and I thought that was smoothest smoothest transition to do flow to L Kyle here for
Week toe basis what’s is there a concern level there or is it just you know just another one of those things that’s come up this season yeah obviously there’s a concern for for him first of all um but he’s been playing uh you know better and better
Certainly last 15 games he’s had uh a really you know great stretch he’s a he’s a competitor Ultra competitor he’s obviously the the leader we know and those are two areas that we’ve talked a lot about being more competitive uh gritty and uh yeah and it’s
Incredible you know the game that Sam G Genson comes back is the exact game that Kyle loosu is now G to be out and I talked a lot about how nice it’ll be to have both of them in because we’ve have not had both of them in for for quite
Some time um with that in mind that competitive guy that you know experienced guy that knows how to play the game hard and direct um so that’s unfortunate you you because as a tandem they’re they’re they’re good they’re great uh they’re even better um so yeah it’s a it’s another another
Challenge you didn’t miss any time something just happen to the game and then once once it’s over yeah it happened during the game and it’s one of those injuries that you know if you can tolerate the pain uh you know the the reaction to it is gonna you know if you
Can tolerate the pain and get through it um but you know that it’s the next morning the next day the inflammation uh you know it’s gonna lock up it’s going to seize up whatever the whatever the terminology um so he gutted it the last little bit of the game
Um and you knew what was coming from that point you guys got 88 shots on goal those two games I think yeah 88 so what’s the takeaway because I mean you won you win the one against Colum obviously you had plenty of opportunities against Ottawa it’s just a
Matter of converting um you know Translating that shot volume and the time of the offensive zone chaos I mean I mean it is because you had uh breakaways that could have went in and and tied games you had early chances so of course um you know converting on a higher percentage of
Your chances is the difference really um it can be one of the differences right it’s the difference if you’re talking bottom line um yeah scoring scoring is what wins um you know was a situation where we generated enough but that said you’re continually looking for ways obviously what can we do
Better and there’s a lot you can do better and you know can can we go to the net harder can we can we go after second chances can we create more chaos net front um and the answer is you always can so you’re looking to say okay how do
We get more of it then um you know obviously we’re we’ve been our numbers are terrible when it’s a back uh it’s a we win and and we don’t bring it into the next night to to the level we need to um and you know we have to we’re we
We obviously with the number of repetitions of this we’re in a phase and and we’re trying to shorten that and push out of that but we’re clearly in this this phase of okay we know we need to get better and resolve this uh this being not consistent enough bringing it
Enough so shot count was high uh but what were the details it could have been better against columus the r he’s starting to get back to the game that he had before he got sick I would agree uh I think he’s feeling better uh in that regard and he
He’s one you know bright spot I would say for us um this year that could go you know under the radar he’s he’s continuing to show he’s adding to his to his game he’s getting better and better as an NHL player um obviously very limited experience yet but that his
Trend has been consistently going upward uh and that’s good obviously that’s that’s what you want and um yeah and it’s you know his habits are good his routine is good his competitiveness is good and um obviously this is his his awareness self-awareness so combination
Of all of that and yeah I’m happy to see that he’s going the right direction Dy he hasn’t been rewarded maybe with the numbers yet but for the last month he’s been very notable maybe you’re one of your best forward just not your best just what’s changed maybe since you know
The end of November early December you know I I had a few conversations with him um and and he I mean this is a this is a different territory for him him um you know I I think he he felt he was I think he even felt the pressure that
He’s letting people down letting himself down not playing to a level that he thought and that that he should be and uh he he was pretty hard on himself and taking it hard on himself obviously you know we were we were pushing him as well and so there’s different pressures there
Um that maybe pulled him out of his element a little bit um but he’s been able to to just focus on the right things um to play more consistent and get to really get to his game he never he didn’t get to his game early in the
Year through through through quite a few games and you know the last month he’s and and I was happy to see it before happen before Jack got back because obviously you see the chemistry with that he has with Jack Quinn uh but you know he he got to where he needed to be
And where he is now uh well quite a few games before Jack qu TN came back which is nice but I think he’s got better Clarity and uh a different perspective now have you guys worked with him or told them much like maybe like Rasmus like you know you’re higher on yourself
But there’s a certain maybe a certain point where it’s it’s it’s too much I mean detrimental yes yeah when you head when you have competitive people that’s that’s sometimes that’s a real challenge to till they understand you know how they can you know they want it so bad that
They they force plays or they want to get it back the next shift or you know they don’t they don’t understand sometimes that they’re complicating what should be simple or they’re complicating things for themselves making it harder for themselves and um you know again I think Dylan’s simplified his game he’s
Played it played a much more direct game and now he’s feeling he’s reading plays better um you know as opposed to forcing a play sometimes and we’ve seen that obviously with delene over the years you know something negative happens and he wants to redeem it immediately which
Means you’re you’re not reading a play anymore you’re forcing it you know um so yes I’ve seen that and and I think he’s again we’re seeing that was an experience I think Dylan went through that that you know he’s going to go through it again in his
Career and the hope is you shorten it because you have some experience in going through that um so I think you know since I’ve been here that pressure that Dylan felt was a first time experience for him at this level and now he has some hindsight with with you know within
That down to the two goalies now both young goalies is practice time the biggest thing that you get being now down to two goalies uh practice reps well you do one of the biggest things I’m sure um obviously a little bit more clarity um you know you’re the
Rotation is is two instead of potentially three um so yeah it’s a different it’s definitely a different realm I just ask you one I ask all sa because it’s not that important I get asked all the time when one of your three captains is sitting why don’t you
Put a on somebody else I don’t have an answer for I just I figured I’d ask yeah I mean do you do you need it first of all and then there also you look at and sometimes there’s there’s two guys and you can only pick one and how
Do you pick one out of the potentially two or maybe it’s three you know um we we have some pretty good leaders beyond the ones that wear the letter um coming to mind would be cousins middlestead Thompson um Samuelson you know those those guys are four really emerging
Emerging type leaders so um if it was longer term stuff then I think we would probably lean toward that but for short term um you think you consider a little differently I guess
Don Granato After Practice Interview (1/2/2024)
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