Mike Gillis giving his post mortem.
"We brought in depth, Lapiere and Higgins to play on our 4th line. They were forced to play big minutes"
"We know we have a great team, we will improve where we feel we need to, I don't buy in to making big changes"
When prodded MG rattled off a the list of injuries after saying "we have no excuses, the best team on the ice won".
Hamhuis abdominal injury
Raymond broken back from a late hit
Bieksa bruised MCL from the two handed chop
edler 2 broken fingers from a slash
Kesler Hip problems
Samuelsson Abdominal surgery
Manny a warrior, operating less than 100%
Higgins, foot injury continued to get worse
Ehrhoff, shoulder since third round. No procedure but rehab.
Henrik - back injury hurting his mobility and leg strength from crosscheck in 2nd round.
"Love to have Sammi back. Premiere Dman in league. Work under salary cap and a guy I will have back for sure. Design play around his age and injury history and try to get the most of him"
AV: "We did play physical between whistle to whistle. Caught off guard with stuff after the whistle which is usually not allowed. PP failed for us in the Playoffs."
MG: Last great dynasty teams like Islanders lost in the finals before they won. Believe in Lu. - MG
MG: Ballard was hurt coming into camp, not 100%, then injuries followed, concussion, got off to a slow start, we went through 14 defensemen this year, he is a big part of this team. Alberts had some of the same struggles two years ago, then came back and improved, we expect the same from Keith Ballard. I don't question which players play, the coaches make the line-up calls, and I support them.
AV: keith is going to have a good summer, lot of upside, he will come in knowing what to expect and with the right ethic he will play the way we think he can play, he didnt get the ice time he expected because we felt that other guys gave us a better chance to win. he will come back and prove his upside
AV: re Tanev and COHO, COHO's first pro year, saw major improvement in play and understanding, tremendous upside, he is just starting, we will ensure he becomes the best player he can be. Tanev: Talent doesn't know age, he came to play, and he was played.
MG: Offseason conditioning will change a bit, knowing what they know now, and they learned a lot about what it will take
MG: We are making progress on headshots with the new regime (Shanny and company), the league is really trying to keep up with a changing game. How can the refs see a headshot, when we have to watch replays 10 times in super slow motion to find if it is a headshot. It makes the call on the ice almost impossible on many occasions.
MG: We have all of our picks next year and made it to the 7th game of the finals this year, we are in really good shape.
MG: We have all learned an awful lot, and will be able to use them as a tool.
AV: After watching teams battle for cups over the last few years, getting eliminated by Anaheim and Chicago, and watching the coaches behind the bench, I see them on TV and thought to myself, "wow that coach looks like cupcakes", then I looked at myself in the mirror a couple of days ago and though, wow I look like cupcakes".
MG: Lapiere, Higgins, Glass, Hansen, etc are "our players" and I would like to see if they will be back. I was up at 8am yesterday morning taking calls from other GMs, we never stop working.
Author
Topic: NHL 2011 Playoff Chat (Read 166605 times)