“They Have Every Reason To Be Proud Of Their Sons” | Buffalo Sabres Don Granato Ahead Of Dads’ Trip

“They Have Every Reason To Be Proud Of Their Sons” | Buffalo Sabres Don Granato Ahead Of Dads’ Trip

He is he’s still uh under the weather he will not travel with us uh at this point little longer we’ve had you know several handful of guys with it and his is hit him it hit him harder and Henry are at their best I mean they played together a while like

What what are they doing when they’re at their best when they’re playing off each other well you just what the last thing you said they’re playing you know they’re they’re in a Groove Together uh moving as a pair um complimenting each each other communicating better um lots

Of uh defending is you know you have two defenseman and playing as a pair is is the term we use quite often need to play as a pair it’s not a every Rush every play against you uh you’re you’re working in tandem to try to uh kill a

Play it’s not just uh even though one skater’s coming at you or two you’re you’re trying to man manipulate things in your favor defensively as a pair and I think those two uh have been around each other now for for four years or so or more and um you know through

Practices and and repetitions and I think they read situations uh in tandem very well how have you seen Henry respond you know sat a couple of games that’s not easy for somebody who’s played over 300 in the league at this point have you seen him respond to that

And not only maintain confidence but build on build on that he has responded very well to that and it was not easy for him initially and um to be a scratch um to be a healthy scratch it was uh you know it was a challenge quite honestly um from us as

Coaches um that we feel um it’s not a punishment that you’re not playing it’s a it’s really a challenge we feel you a much better player and we need you to be a much better player um and and his you know his progression through this year

Um to step up I’ve said it you know one one year ago um we all know the data when we missed one defense man Matia Samson it was a it was a really really really challenging uh situation for us and I I think our you know so our

Attention has gone to to to Really focusing and improving that D core Bryson’s a much better player and you know we’re talking about Henry he you know even from the start of this year he is a much much better hockey player and we’re seeing it and we’re benefiting

From it obviously with the injuries to samelson and power one of the notable differences just how quick he is to to kill plays just really aggressive and decisive decisive decisive is the word we use a lot um you know you position your positioning to then be decisive uh

And and that means you’re positioning to to a spot in the ice that favors you and ready to jump uh when you when that opportunity to jump is projected by you and he’s done a he’s done a very good job with that um and uh and now you know

When you’re that’s become much more natural and easy which means now you can see the ice on the transition better or you know where your deep partner is or what support you have otherwise so you know he’s his his reads are are much better and the last part was that being

Very decisive was something that we felt uh he could make quick Improvement on and he has always worked well together in the past is it just a matter of time together that’s allowing them to be better together I think maturity out of uh out of you know yoah Haru and and and

What you’re saying you know so what you’re saying combined with just just Henry’s game he’s he’s maturing you know again we I felt we needed to challenge him and part of challenging him was healthy scratching him uh to get him to to you know fight for more um because

His his ability far exceeds his you know and it far exceeded his impact um is is probably the easiest way to say it um we knew we had a guy with a lot more ability than than we were seeing an impact and um he was not bad by any

Point was he bad it was just we need him to be better in fact really good and um you know we felt uh you know giving having him take a step back at times was uh might spur that and um you know he’s again he’s he’s playing I think he’s

Playing the best hockey he’s played and the time that I’ve seen him in in the National Hockey League and that dates back to when we were both in Chicago with the Blackhawks together what would be an example of Rasmus Doan just playing more efficiently you mentioned that yesterday he’s cognizant he has to

But what would be just an example within the game of him just picking his spots you know he when he touches a puck he tries to go uh he tries to make the ideal play happen and he competes and fights to make the ideal play happen on each Puck

Touch so uh there’s sometimes where you have to say okay I know the ideal play would be that to actually go through this guy then this guy then this guy maybe I can just move it and support and then see if there’s another opportunity exerting less energy uh my concern with Rasmus is

The you know without with the injuries and the minutes we’ve lost with with the guys that mentioned is we want him to play more but the concern is the work the rest ratio to the work and he’ll come off the ice uh we’d love to have

Him against the top two lines on the other team he goes that’s what’s we missing with Owen playing against the next line or samelson is their second line so we’re trying to get him to play as much as he can against both those lines and when he comes off the ice if he’s

Exerted too much energy on the shift he just finished you need a longer rest time so you know the the the initiative is is is around that you know we want to play him more and against you know different lines and with different lines because obviously his offensive ability

You know if you have him out there with the Thompson line it means if middlestead line goes next they don’t have them um and Owen’s obviously you know pretty proficient offensively so that means middle stad line doesn’t have Owen so you’re you’re and if it’s you

Think of the cousins line then you think the same thing and you know so we’re just using him in so many different scenarios that I think the biggest thing is don’t overexert yourself on the shift that you have because we’re watching how much recovery time you need when you get

Back winning obviously being the first one what are some of the things you really want to see on your team going this road trip with these much points you know in particular that that you want to see happen to get you to be love to see us finish more you know we’re

Creating chances and so that that’s the obvious for me um you know the the uh you know again if you look at last night’s game um yeah finish how can a dad’s and Mentor trip really just refresh energy in the room well I know that the parents I mean they have every

Reason the fathers to come in here and be extremely proud of uh of their sons and grandsons we have some grandfathers and and other mentors on the trip um how can you not be proud of these guys and and uh you know that in itself can be energizing uh and it should be

Energizing you know these guys have accomplished um a lot in their careers and lives and and uh in a very very short time and they’re playing obviously at the highest level in the world so uh you know when you see uh you you see the fathers the mentors the grandfathers and

You know they’re very proud of that and they should be and I think that’s good energy I had a chance to chat with Jeff Skinner and he knows and he wants I mean he knows he wants to score goals how do you help him I mean he’s been in this

League a long time he’s been through things but it seems like when he gets like this he tries to force a play and then it goes the other way or how do you get him to all right you don’t need to force that and you know get him to the

Net where he needs to be and those things to help him get back on track I think you gotta you know you reassure him is is probably the biggest thing if you know highly skilled players sometimes either second guess themselves or they press and I think in those

Moments uh you know reassurance and and confidence in them uh goes goes probably the longest way um you know in hindsight when I think of you know think of these situations and very talented players it happens in in careers is he’s he’s a guy that’s had a long career he’s had plenty

Of ups and downs um and then support as much as you can support him obviously he’s still on the line with Thompson and Tuck uh it’s a pretty good line to be on he still uh I think leads us in power play minutes um that’s a good situation

To be in and um so lots of you know you know lots of combination of of encouragement but pushing as well so and you keep doing it

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