Kyle Okposo To Return To Lineup | Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Don Granato Pregame
Just the loss of Jeff I mean obviously it’s very significant how do you deal with it uh you know skinny is uh a big part of when we go he he’s usually going and uh uh yes it’s a big loss um I think if we missed him in in Vegas and the
Guys perform well I believe that was a game and guys just have to elevate and pick up um we will have ooso back in the lineup tonight um unfortunately we’re in that situation where it seems like when one guy returns one guy goes at the
Exact same time uh but I think that’s a that’s a big boost having uh Oki back in there um and of course you’re going to miss Jeff just gotta pick it up I know that theworks are in Charlotte but do you anticipate a roster move in the next
Couple of days uh Victor up front we have obviously with Skinner out for a bit now we still have Victor who’s coming back in had a a pretty intense uh skate conditioning skate out there today uh and aoso coming back in so we don’t need uh anybody up front uh because
We’ve had that um we got two back and on the back end we still have seven that uh could be ready to go so Victor will be in the lineup o poster will be in the lineup for Skinner tonight the rest of the group should be the same yeah what
About the impact on the power play I mean he’s got six of your 16 goals Victor Skinner oh Skinner um I mean the power play needs to be better it’s uh if you if you look at our five on five goals are just about where we were last year and they’re
Pretty good when you look at the overall League our five on five goals uh so when we look at our scoring it’s not down five on five it’s not down overall in the sense of it’s down on the power play so you know that whole uh unit um and I
Say unit because the first unit gets a bulk of the time uh they haven’t performed well enough um we’ll make a tweak on that with with Jeff out um there’s a pretty good player that’s going in there and um you know as it being a work in progress even though
Skinners kind of let us let us in goals um and done very well there everybody needs to pick it up it needs to be better period so you know the absence of Skinner is is um not great but if the power play gets to where it should be there’s also enough
Other weapons to compensate the nature of Jeff’s injury is this a case where is it going to be you see how he feels in the week or is this and you think it’s going be a longer term I think it’s what you said at the outset in one week we’ll
Kind of know how far this thing’s resolved um and uh you know it’s a um it’s one of those it’s more of you know when you’re dealing with uh something like a a broken bone this is not a broken bone you can put a timetable on it this is you know um a
Little different softer tissue and you wonder how that can resolve can you characterize is this something new or is this related to the McKinnon thing still it’s new it’s new yeah yeah so it was the other night middle of the game the other night I I don’t even know the
Exact play that it that it happened on um so brand new uh you said the rest of the group is the same there’s no change on defense tonight there is a change I I apologize I didn’t mean to confuse you guys forwards the rest of the forwards
Are the same poo and Skinner out we will have uh Ryan Johnson’s going in uh I don’t want to say who’s going out yet I’m gonna have another meeting with him now so how is you know Ryan’s obviously a rookie and he’s never set out games before and he seems to understand the
Process and handle it well how has he just handled sitting out games for the first time in his career basically I think you got to look at it the other way he’s never he’s probably not played this many games in a season in the last six years so he’s playing more games
Than he ever had in the last at at a high level you know you figure before you go to play division one hockey you’re playing youth hockey or Junior Hockey which is an extension of of Youth Hockey say maybe you’re playing 65 games 70 games uh when you go to college
You’re playing 40 uh maybe 42 games here you know he’s approaching that amount already and he’s going to play far more than 40 is my guess so it’s not that he’s missing games he’s playing more games than he’s has in a long time and you’re you’re you know you’re giving him
Time to stay to you know uh to breathe a little bit um and again so you know Jack Quinn comes back for an injury mention he’s he’s going to be a better hockey player just sitting back and taking in things that he didn’t have time to take
In when you’re under Fire uh and you’re under Fire when you’re playing every other day you’re you’re just trying to gather yourself you’re playing depleted uh you’re playing in reserves um and then you know you don’t have time to soak some things in when you can sit
Back and watch a couple games uh um you soak different things in so for Ryan I think this is an important part of his uh his of accelerating growth um is the best way to look at it is to take a break here and there I would characterize probably both games against
Ottawa this year as kind of cranky for both teams just how much are these two teams kind of you have to play a little different game you’re kind of in each other’s faces here yeah I mean I think you know there’s been there’s a lot of Youth on
Both teams um you know if you look back three years ago both organizations really you know their their future was is going to be based on the growth of the youth I mean they’ve done they’ve they’ve brought in obviously more uh probably more you know experienced players to try
To accelerate it I guess um um and it’s they’re measuring sticks the guys I think the guys feel it’s measuring sticks and it’s uh it’s become a little bit of a uh more of a battle in that regard um I think the players are very
Well aware of that in a sense you know that there’s pride in that you know in both locker rooms I know I’ve coached quite a few players on that team and um there’s a they’re a very talented team with a lot of feisty players and grit
And uh you know I I look at us as as similar and um from the compete standpoint you have two two groups of players and and lots of really good young players that know um they’re probably going to be playing each other against each other for years as they
Both organizations get better and I think when you look at the way the league is they have gotten better every time we’ve played them it seems um and they’ve gone they’re going the right direction I think it’s inevitable they’re going to be a you know they’re already a good hockey team in my
Estimation the league is is as good as it’s been in a long time uh but they’re getting better every time you watch them play so it’s a battle to see you know you know where are you at now and where are we at now every time it play him it
Seems to be that you know to chuk is such a great hockey player but he’s also willing to go sit in the Penalty Box I think he’s second in the league in penalty minutes is part of your game plan to get under his skin to see if you
Can get him over into the Penalty Box and off the no no it’s not I mean he’s he he’s I don’t think we have to get under his skin sometimes he you know he’s I’ve coached him he’s a he’s a you know it’s it’s probably hard for anybody
To say to even see this but he’s a he’s one hell of a person uh and obviously one hell of a hockey player but he he plays that way it’s we’re not going to change him and I don’t even think he he’s a competitive ultra competitive guy
That rides the edge all the time I don’t think we need to provoke that I think he he just that’s the way he is I don’t think teams actually provoke it he ends up taking penalties because he rides that edge all the time and he’s an ultra
Competitive guy so we have to play our game you know and and that’s I mean it’s it’s in our best interest to focus on us
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