Ken Hitchcock Quotations | Page 4

About 25 percent of your job is coaching the team on the ice and about 75 percent of your job is all of the stuff that happens off the ice, whether it be preparation or putting out fires. I think he's going in with his eyes wide open about that.

It's just bad luck. We feel like we might as well get it done now. If we wait 25 games and he's sore, he won't get a chance to play (healthy) down the line.

It's embarrassing when those two guys fall down (and a penalty is called). That's embarrassing. But that's the way it is.

It's a track meet - and I'm too fat to run, ... But you just have to keep going.

It's a big hit. He's a veteran presence with a big voice in the locker room. He says the right thing at the right time, so probably our two biggest voices (in the locker room) are not in right now.

It's a best-of-three now. This is two teams that are very closely matched. Both are playing really hard right now and there's not much difference.

I try to envision what worked in Colorado and the thing I know that worked there is that (Forsberg) had scoring players who could also protect the puck,

I try to envision what worked in Colorado,

It was a really hard, really bizarre game.

It was a tough way to lose a hockey game, giving up a goal in the last 5 seconds when you're not in any real danger. That last one was a tough one.

It's a flash of some really good stuff. He's going to be a dominant player.

I told (the media) that this was going to be the rotation a month ago. That's the formula. I'm sticking with it. Talk to me on Sunday.

It's not just chasing the New York Rangers, it's also chasing Buffalo. The third or fourth seed is home ice (advantage) and we want home ice because it's going to be that close.

It's not serious, but we're not taking any chances.

For a game when you know you?re going to get checked this hard, we had too many people below the bar. Way too many people.

It's the nature of our season. We're in first place in one category. We lead the league in the unfortunate category of injuries.

(It means) exactly nothing. You can?t read anything (into it). He?s trying to play hockey. But, he?s certainly not a player in this series.

It's been our year (for injuries). We've had to manufacture and monitor guys all year.

It's quality of life. The players already know the building is full, the building is loud, the fans are knowledgeable, the organization is committed to winning and the practice facility is second to none. Players talk about that stuff all the time.

You throw all of that out the window. The fans know this isn't the regular season, our fans especially. I've seen our fans just will us in a playoff series. It's really difficult when you're constantly having to win on the road. Having a Game 7 in your building, to me, there is no better feeling in the world.

You think you're snake bit and there's a lot of doubt in your game and, when you don't score for an extended period of time, doubt creeps in. Then you get the one off their skate and it kind of sets the wheel in motion and now everybody thinks they can score.

Even when things get a little hairy like they did in the second period, we gathered ourselves and did a great job.

That's a dangerous play in hockey when you're checking the player with the puck and he checks you. The checking player doesn't suspect that and he's not ready for it. I think you see a lot of injuries when that type of play happens.

That line was unstoppable. When we were with Dallas we tried so many things to slow them down and we just couldn't.

That power-play goal at the end of the second took the winds out of our sails.

It's still not good enough. We know the rules and we took two penalties in the third period that we can't take, not when the game is on the line. You're just dealing with an unbelievable level of fire when you're giving a team like that six, seven or eight penalties.

It's something we'll have to deal with. Yeah, we wanted (home ice). Hopefully, it won't become a factor. We know we have to win at least one game in Buffalo and probably more.

The air went out completely. The deflation was unbelievable.

That goal brought our team back into the game.

That is probably one of the best periods of hockey we've played in this building.

It's always tough to lose 7-1. Losing like that at home is just very tough on all of us.

It kind of woke him up. He doesn't mind that. He's been through that before. I thought the more he got hit, the better he played, quite frankly.

It seemed like every mistake we made went in our net. We deserved a better fate. We had a ton of things go right. We out-shot them. We out-chanced them. We outplayed them, but they're an opportunistic team and they took advantage of the mistakes we made. That's what good teams do.

It's huge. He's a point-a-game guy, a big-time plus player.

It was a heck of a lesson. It's the best team we've played all year. You make puck errors down in the zone like we did, you're going to get schooled.

It was nice not to have an absolute nail-biter for a change.

I walked in and wrote the scores on the board and walked out. I didn't have to say anything else.

It was a great start. All four lines contributed. We are getting better every day now. You can see it in the practices and you can see it in the game. We are getting healthier and we have some continuity on lines.

It was a great feeling in the locker room, it was a great start, and then it was bang, bang, bang. It was over. We poured so much into it and then the air went out completely. The deflation was unbelievable.

It was over so quickly. It was like bang-bang-bang.

It took us almost a period and a half to get up to the pace of the game and then we were fine. We were much better in the second half of the game and the overtime than we were at the start. I thought we were a little behind the pace at the start and then really got going.

It was just a reorganizing: Here's what we have to do, here's where we have to be efficient, little things. And I think there's an attitude where, when you do a good job killing penalties, you're not afraid to be aggressive. When you're not killing penalties well, everybody is on eggshells.

The two games they were together there was tremendous chemistry. They want to play together. They both really want it badly, and we're going to take a look at that.

They are never out of it because of their power play. We knew that if they got the (power play) chances, they are going to be hard to play against.

They were the better team over the six games. They took advantage of us and they poured it on when they saw that they had the advantage.

They live off the power play and we gave them power plays. That's what is really disappointing.

It was huge. We were on our heels. I'm sure the feeling in the stands was, 'Oh, no, here we go again.' To get it back that quickly was huge for us. It brought the building alive again. It brought the bench alive. I thought it was, for us, the biggest goal of the series.

Once they got the lead, they were able to sit on it. I don't think we played with the emotional level that we have at times. A lot of that is New Jersey. They play a very methodical game and they take the emotion out of it.

It's really up to the players whether this is a bump (in the road) or a (big) hit (to the team). This is a good wake up call... I am hoping that the players realize what we have done and that we continue to move forward and (the loss) was just a bump.

That second period felt like the longest period I've ever been through as a coach. The first question was whether we could skate with them. We can. They've got speed and so do we.

As a coach, I?d rather he be down there playing then up here sitting. In a perfect world, he would practice with us and play with the Phantoms, but that?s unfair to the Phantoms.

Their tenacity, speed and hunger controlled the game.

Their determination defensively was a little better than ours was offensively. Overall, they were all committed physically. We were one chance and out.

I?m not saying anything at this point. I?m just saying he?s not playing (tonight) for sure.

I'm disappointed. This was a big game. We didn't have everybody on board. We made far too many mistakes.

I'm sure the fans in the stands were, 'Oh no, here we go again. I think for us, that was the biggest goal of the series.

I know a guy like Simmer, he could do the same job as two or three other guys, but it's working right now. I don't want to change it if it's working.

I know about playing back-to-backs, and they're up there waiting for us. Whatever happens in that game, if we play the right way, we'll feel good about it. You don't want to start next weekend trying to find your hockey game.

If Jon had the attitude he has now he would have been a 30-goal scorer. He was unable to sustain the level of play necessary to keep him in the lineup.

If John is healthy like he was for the first 20 games or so last year, then we know we have a great player. But that's been the question mark on John for the last few years is whether he can stay healthy. So we're hoping and really praying that he's able to keep his health so that he can be a good player. If he's healthy he's going to be an impact player. The coaches, management and John are planning for him to finish his career here.

If our team was loaded and had everybody in it and we were making the mistakes we're making now, you'd have a very upset coaching staff. But there's big picture stuff going on and we've got to keep it realistic.

I only saw it for a brief moment, but considering who it was it is not surprising.

If you can't get ready for the best team in the league, you're in trouble. They've taken on all comers this year and they've really eaten up some teams. I don't know whether it's the fear of getting embarrassed, but we've got a lot of competitive guys and we love to play in these type of games.

In my opinion, Jon should have been a 30-goal scorer a long time ago,

I just think our level of intensity dropped and Toronto's went up, and that was the difference,

I know our club was really focused on that with the changes we made to our roster. Our depth is more on the skilled side than it was on the role-playing side.

I haven't made up my mind. I've said this before, I'm not in any hurry right now. It's not a big deal to me.

In the NHL, it doesn't matter with the standings. Especially this team, they are over .500 at home. And they have a great work ethic. If we don't match their work ethic, how is our skill going to take over?

In my opinion, this is the best team we are going to play so far in the season,

I phoned and left a message for Brett but haven't heard from him. A player knows before he even comes into training camp whether he has one foot in the door or both feet out the door. He knows that. Brett knew that. But he was a special player.

His eye was pretty swollen. A concussion has been ruled out, but who's to say when you get a blow like that? He has problems with his vision. His eyes get heavy.

His leadership for me has come because he's confident. He's a good player in the league now and he thinks he has a good feel for the game, which he does. He's been in the big games against elite opponents, which means he is a guy who has matured.

He's supposed to have a look at those things.

He settles everything down. He's a tremendous player. He's settles everything down.

He sets the highest standard for himself and everybody on the team and when he goes, we go. He is hard on himself, demanding on himself and that is what makes special players.

He sets a higher standard. That's what makes special players.

He sets a higher standard for himself than anyone on the team. He's a leader. When he goes, we go.

Hopefully within the next week he'll be ready to play.

He's our captain, he's not just another player.

He's our captain, he's just not another player.

He's real impressive. His skill level and his skating level are incredible. I think that he's a special player, but I don't think there is much extra pressure on him right now. I think right now he's able to find his own level because we are competent back there. We have good players back there so he's going to be able to develop at the proper pace. But when you have a player who is that strong, everybody gets excited. And I think we are all feeling like this is a terrific opportunity for him and the franchise.

Chasing the game takes so much energy out of you.

He's tying to play hockey, but he's certainly not a player in this series. He's just moving ahead. He's our captain and he's trying to lend support.

He's the leader. Where he goes, we go.

Good players score those goals. Guys like you or I, they'd be in the stands.

If his neck responds to the treatment like we think it will, then he'll be available for us (today).

I felt we were still tentative (early) and afraid to play a little bit. Once we got a little angry and got some emotion going, then we were able to go. We played physical.

If I lived in Washington, I would pay whatever the season ticket was to watch this kid play. He's a special player, a unique player who comes around once every 10 years.

I don't see anyone even remotely talking about doing anything. It's been quiet.

I don't think he raises his game. He's one of those unique players who can beat you with skill but also with tenacity. It's wearing to go against a player like that. It's unnerving. You think you've got him, but he out-competes you.

I don't think anybody was looking for the penalties. I said it before ... the first team that adjusts is going to be the winner. You end up with a ton of scoring chances, a ton of special teams and you're going to have to get better and you're going to have to adjust. Whining about it isn't going to do anything. It's not going to go away.

He's not playing. He got hit (Monday) and he had concussion symptoms again, so he's out. We don't know until he feels better whether he's going to come back or not, but he's certainly not playing Wednesday or Friday, that's for sure.

He brings a calmness that's good for us.

He played on only about 50-60 percent energy and he was still an effective player.

He put a lot of pressure on himself last year when Carolina started making those changes. He just kept adding to the pile there and he put too much pressure on himself to try to do everything. He came here and after awhile he just played his game and was very, very effective for us.

There are too many games now where there's too much structure and not enough of the chaos.

Coaches are like ducks. Calm on top, but paddling underneath. Believe me, there's a lot of leg movement.

If I'd known it was going to take 25 years, I'd have started earlier.

You know that if you just stay with the program, the home team is going to be the one that presses. We've caught people pressing hard when the game is on the line, and we've caught them on some odd-man rush situations. And we've won a lot of points late.

You can't expect 34-year-olds to score like 26-year-olds. Those guys have other roles that are as important, but we have to get more from other people who are capable.