Seth Appert Post Skate | 12.27.23

Seth Appert Post Skate | 12.27.23

Start with I guess is an easy question was it nice to be away and have some time with the family this time of year yeah it’s always great to spend a few days with friends and family and get spend time with uh my wife and our

Daughters so um that was great it was a great Christmas short it was a pretty short break um but but it was great even though it’s not a lot of time do you find like not just for yourself but players from Seasons past it’s good to

To have that timer you can get away from hockey well it’s important I mean I we look for moments in the schedule you know those random times in the schedule that maybe we don’t play on a Wednesday and you can give them a Monday off here there um it it’s important uh probably

More mentally than physically it’s physically important for sure but mentally even more so um you know I I wish we could have given them one more day um just for the guys to have a day to breathe and and again mentally check out see friends see family enjoy a

Little break but but we got the three days and we’ll take it and be ready for tonight we didn’t get a chance to speak with you following Saturday’s win against Syracuse uh does it help to go into the break getting that win yeah it always feels better going in a break on

A win um you know he just allows you probably to put it away easier um sometimes as a player certainly as a coach when you go in on the loss it can eat at you a little bit more um which then it’s harder to have the mental

Break of the break so uh it is good to go in and a win what did you uh makeing the team’s effort to get two points I thought we played good um you know Syracuse a really good team tough building to play in um you’re in the back end of a three and

Four you know so uh I think that we played in a similar manner that we’ve played the last six games now um we just found a way to get the result where in some of the other games we hadn’t got the result for one reason or another so

I don’t think we played we played good we weren’t like oh my God good we were good um you know and and uh we play good team defense again that’s that’s six games in a row now that our our team defensive effort um chances against shots against are are getting suppressed

A little bit better um you know and I think that gave us a chance to win that game we found a way to win it overtime uh ticker looked frustrated how the game he played earlier in the week when what did you think of him Saturday he was

Excellent on Saturday um yeah he was uh disappointed in himself on Wednesday and he’s you know he’s played a long time uh and he’s a winner for a reason uh he doesn’t need to be pointed out when he has a poor performance uh he knows in

That Wednesday game that we played in a manner that probably deserved to win and um you know he was a little bit off that night but that that’s part of it that’s part part of being a goalie you’re going to have off nights and uh you’ll love knowing um you know that our

Goenda from a game that they maybe weren’t their best with coming out and giving a really strong performance uh the other player you talked about last week that luk said you said that you think his last few games have been really Elite what has he been doing

Right well lcos is always going to make plays I he’s an incredibly smart hockey player uh he’s got a really good offensive mind and he’s going to see plays he’s going to make plays so that the playmaking in him is always going to be there um what we want to see continue

To grow and and what has been really good of late is just how competitive he’s been on the puck and for him to be dominant at this level and then to also stick at the NHL level it’s going to need to be those things he’s going to

Need to be a puck Hunter he’s going to need to be a for Checker he’s going need to be a disruptor uh with his energy and his competitiveness because at the NHL level he’s likely in in the in the bottom or middle six you know not in the

Top six and guys that are in more of your bottom six as smart as they offensively and you need to contribute offensively you need players to be on the penalty kill to for check to hunt pucks to do those types of things he just been incredibly uh demanding play

Against over these last couple weeks um it’s a really good sign for for our team but more importantly it’s a great sign for his career I don’t know if you can easily explain this or not but like what you just said about him and a lot of

Guys do this where they go from being a top six player in the American do a bottom six a call up to the NHL how can you I guess get them to harness that role when they’re used to being an elite go two player in this league but they

Have to do things a little differently at the next step well that’s why we work on those things with all of our our players that’s why we practice that way um that’s why we emphasize angling and um you know getting getting contact on people everybody’s going to get contact

Differently like isach roseann’s become a very physically committed player he he’s going to cut your hands off more with his angles and his stick positioning and his body positioning you know where Brett Murray might run you over right so there there’s different ways to be physically engaged but we

Teach all of our players those things because those are things that get you to stick like you’re not nobody’s taking Tage Thompson’s job like that that’s not up for it’s not up for being taken it’s it’s Tage Thompson likely is going to have that job for the next decade for

For the Buffalo Sabers rasma dallin’s going to have his job for the next 15 years and so those jobs in the NHL don’t come open and and these are things that we work on with our guys we talk to our guys about all the time I talked to our

Guys when I was in the at the ncdp about this even the even at the US national program like most of those guys aren’t going to walk in some are but and be Top Line forwards or top pair defenseman and so the other guys to stick you have to

Be good at the hard things in the sport and the detailed things and um if you’re not you don’t get to show how talented you are I want to ask you about defense he touch on a little bit there because last week you talked how you’re just

Used to not having consistency in the lineup because guys are out injured call up Etc but throughout this season K play they’ve been together as a teer pretty much all year long so what have you seen in them that’s kind of earned on that trust um you know I think that they’re

Both growing their game and that sounds funny because they’re they not you know they’re 25y old so they’re they’re in that middle tier of age um but they’ve had a lot of time up in the NHL but and we’ve talked about this a lot of times

When you’re in the NHL is a 6 seven8 you’re just trying to hang in there and survive in the league and now they’re growing their game CLE um made the league by being a puck moving type of offensive young defenseman and now his defensive game is really growing how

Much time and space he takes away from his opponents how well he’s defending how hard he’s defending um and then stillman’s growing his offensive side of his game uh he’s breaking the puck out better he’s transitioning better he’s making more plays on the attack and so they’re kind of meshing in in that

Regard C’s becoming a better Defender Stiller’s becoming uh better with the puck and they’re they’re they have a good chemistry they balance each other well um they like playing together I I think that uh the game on Saturday Stillman and kak are as big a reason as

Anybody if not the biggest reasons we won that game we had a really good first period on the road they score a goal and that’s one of those teetering points especially when you’re on the road the day before break you know you can get pushed out of the game at that in in

Games like this and the next shift Stillman absolutely train wrecked uh Roar and and then and then uh Stevens came and and challenged him and they fought and it was just a great message to to our his teammates like that we’re not going away tonight you know and and

That’s what physicality and those things do and uh you know and I think a lot of our guys came to play that but if anybody didn’t if anybody was ah it’s three and four it’s Christmas break coming like things like that pull guys into the fight uh I thought still I

Thought that was stillman’s best game of the year on Saturday and then with kak kak had four block shots that were just spectacular um you know and you know we talk about the goals and you’re going to talk about bro’s overtime goal and all that stuff but without kak’s blocked shots we probably

Don’t get overtime uh um and and so I thought kak and Stillman uh were just two great examples of of the physical side of the sport and doing the dirty things and and how it helps your team win only thing i’ love for is I want to

Bring up your leag because last week you said probably would get a leadership opportunity with jaie was announced Christmas day he’s the captain for that team how special you that us for him yeah I was excited to see that I texted him uh congratulating him on that and

And then you know it’s great they they had a poor first game and so the leadership test will be immediate you know and I liked his interview um he was he was angry and talked about the poor penalties they took and just thought that that showed um you know that he’s maturing as

A player and and he wasn’t talking about uh their lack of offense he was talking about the poor penalties that they were taking putting them in bad team position um and now they’re back at it today and now he gets to he needs to be the tone

Setter now today for for for the check you know after a poor performance against the big rival and that’s the good thing of the pressure of leadership you know those are things that you know the Bros and the murres and the mes and the prow and guys like that get to do

Here for us well and now Yuri’s starting to do that here for us because he’s such a go-to guy but this is a great opportunity for him to grow in his leadership skills with how he responds and how he helps drive that team today what I’ve seen in a long time man

Anyway uh PE for fam for you wasn’t too long ago a couple of games ago you were trying to figure out who you’re going to have in the lineup down you got all these decisions are you kind of some play you put too many of

Them um no um I think that you know a couple weeks ago I didn’t love how we were playing um you know and and I challenged the guys that um you know that guys need to earn their lineup spots you know it’s a balance in the

American League you know as a coach that you need to play your young prospects a lot um but there’s also times that guys need to earn their minutes and their spots um and and a couple two three weeks ago when the team wasn’t playing with maybe enough Vigor um those are

That’s one of those times so um you know there’s always a balance you always have to take in you know what’s my responsibility to our organization in terms of developing prospects so that always plays a part of the decision- making in your lineups um but right now you’re also playing guys that are

Playing with the most competitive spirit because that’s something that is growing in our team right now but we need to continue to grow and reward that um you know if we want to become a team that can challenge at the important times of the year just being

By I mean you know coaches always have plans you know I also think think that you’re at that time of the year that um some of the younger guys like playing three and four might be a detriment you know um and and those are things we need

To sort out and feel which guys that might be and um you know playing a back end of a three and four sometimes is just survival and and are you better off with some young young guys or some physically underdeveloped guys are those guys better off having a

Training day and a lifting day and and working on some things on the ice that are a deficiency versus just trying to survive a game that night you know so you’re you’re trying to balance all that you’re trying to balance Prospect development um numbers uh call up guys

Winning all of that together when you’re piecing the lineup together so um some of it’s planned out some of it is more um game to game how players are performing thank you thank you