Jim Nill met with the media on Wednesday after the NHL trade deadline and covered a wide range of subjects.
On the trade they made with Columbus
“Yeah, Lauri Korpikoski, who played great for us. We’d signed Lauri when we had all those injuries to start the year and came in and did a good job for us, and we traded him to Columbus for Dylan Heatherington. Dylan’s a second-round pick of Columbus. This is his second year pro, played back in Swift Current, big kid, 6-4, 220, he played world juniors for Canada, so he’s a good prospect. We’ll put him down in Austin and let him continue his development.”
On how busy this deadline has been for them
“Yeah, it’s busy for the wrong reason to tell you the truth, you’d like to be a buyer at this time of year. But it’s the situation we put ourselves in and we know we have to get better. When you have the UFAs, you have to decide to re-sign them or try to get some assets for them. It’s all about asset allocation right now. The other part that comes into play is the Expansion Draft and that came into play in a lot of these moves. You can only protect some players, you know you’re going to lose some players, so you’re better off to get something for players before you lose them and that was our mindset going into this week.”
On if they might bring up Heatherington or McNeill at some point
“We’ll play it by ear. We’ll let them go down there and see. We got 12 forwards right now, Ales Hemsky is projected to play on Thursday, we’re hoping he plays Thursday, so we’re getting him back. We’ve got Cracknell’s injured, I think he’s about three or five days away, so we’re getting some healthy bodies back. We’re starting to get some depth back in our system. We’ve been depleted all season. The injuries have just decimated us, so we’re going to get our team settled back in and then we’ll start bringing kids up as we see (fit). We’re allowed four recalls. Now to the end of the season, it’s a chance to see these young players, we have to make decisions once again on Expansion Draft, so we’re going to see where these young players fit in. It’s a great opportunity for them. This is an opportunity for them to make that next move because we have to make decisions for next year also.”
On Sharp’s injury status
“Yeah, Patrick, he’s been playing injured for quite a while. He will require season-ending surgery here eventually where he’s going to keep playing as long as he can here. We’re going to keep monitoring it kind of game-by-game, then we’ll make that decision, but he will require season-ending surgery, so that’s the reason he was not traded.”
On if he can disclose Sharp’s injury
“I’d rather not right now. He’s still playing, so I’d rather not show the opposition what his injury is, so we’ll let him keep playing and we’ll make that decision later on.”
On if Sharp’s surgery could happen sooner rather than later
“We’re going to monitor kind of game-by-game. We’ll play that by ear as we go.”
On if Sharp wants to play
“Yes, yes, yeah. He’s an NHL player. He wants to play. He’s a big part of the leadership group on this team. As crazy as it sounds, we’re not out of it yet, and until we’re out of it, these guys are digging in and they should be. They’re professional and their job is to play every night. It’s the coach’s job to prepare them every night, and that’s the way we’re taking it.”
On what he told teams about Sharp
“Well, when teams called, I told them right away that he was injured. You can’t trade an injured player, so I was very up front with teams. The other teams, they got to do their moves also, so it was important that they know that he’s off the table.”
On if Sharp was always off the table
“Yeah, it’s possible. We were monitoring the injury. We were monitoring it and it just started to get worse and worse, so I finally knew that he was not able to play past a certain time.”
On Korpikoski
“Lauri’s played very well for us. He’s done a great job. Like I said, he came in, he was a pro tryout in Calgary that we ended up signing. With the injuries, he came in and did a great job for us. A character guy on and off the ice. He’s going to a good team. He’s going to Columbus, got a chance to win it. He’s got a good connection there with Jaromir Kicklin in there, so it’s a good move for him.”
On them still being in the playoff hunt
“Well, my job with this franchise is to try to get better today, tomorrow and for the future, so we monitor that day-by-day and if there’s something there that makes sense that can help us right now, we’re going to do it or if there’s something long term, we’re also going to do that. It’s a different season this year with the Expansion Draft, that’s come into play with a lot of these decisions and with the rest of the league to tell you the truth, so we’ll monitor that day-by-day. These decisions are made if it’s something that can help us down the road and that’s important.”
On the importance of these final games for young players
“They’re very important. These young guys, they’re trying to crack this lineup to be everyday NHLers. It’s about coming every day and playing to the best of your ability. With young players, as you’ve seen during the season, it’s sometimes a roller coaster, and this is a part of the learning process, so this is going to be good for them all.”
On if they will call up a forward from the AHL
“Right now, we’ll start tomorrow with our 12 forwards with Hemsky coming back, and then we’ll play it from there. As some of you may not now, there’s just four recalls, so we got to juggle that also, so we’ll monitor that as we go forward. We got a very hectic schedule, the whole league does, in March. There’s going to be a lot of games here and I hope there’s not a lot injuries, but we’ll prepare for that.”
On if they’ve had any talks to Las Vegas yet
“Now we can officially talk to George McPhee, now the official business can take place, so we haven’t had any real conversations. Really everybody’s waiting for the trade deadline to see what your rosters are. Where your rosters are at now will help decide what’s going to happen in expansion.”
On how he appraises the season
“Well, we’re disappointed. We’re analyzing this and we know where we have to make some changes. And I get back this, until the end of the season, this is a good audition a lot of these players. If they’re going to be a part of this group moving forward, that’s what we’re going to be watching very closely, so there’s a lot at stake here with these next few games. But we’re disappointed in the season. It’s been a tough, grinding, frustrating season. Good thing is we’re going to continue to grow and learn from this, and be better next year because of it.”
On why this season has been a disappointment
“Well, it’s a combination. We got decimated early. The injuries are definitely are a big part of it, but you got to find a way to get through that also. Some players played well, some didn’t, some grew into their roles, some didn’t, and that’s what we’re going to have to make some decisions on moving forward.”
On if this deadline was less busy than others
“It was busy as far as talk, but as far as movement, it wasn’t as busy. A lot of that is you’ve got a cap that’s a flat cap moving forward. It’s hard to add bodies, expansion comes into play a lot. And then the other thing is parity. Really you look at it, there’s really only three or four teams really out of the playoffs right now, so there’s a lot of teams that are three, four, five, six points out of it and it’s hard to make moves knowing that you could still be in it and vice versa, so it’s a combination of all those factors and the league is a tight league now.”
On how they weigh playing young guys versus still being in the playoff race
“I’m going to leave that up to the coaches and we’ll see. It’ll be performance-based as it should be. The goal here is still to win. This isn’t a league for developing, it’s for winning. Lindy’s going to put the best team on the ice and we’ll rotate the players as needed. And I know that with a tough grind ahead we’re going to need everybody, so I think it’s going to work itself out.”
On if there are any players in the AHL would could come up that we don’t know about
“Well, I think all our young kids down there are deserving of call-ups. Some have been up already, others will come up. A lot of that is going to depend on injuries and depend on their play down below. This is also a challenge to them down below, that you’re being watched and the best players are going to come up. We do have the four-recall rule we have to work with, so we’ll monitor that also. If we get injuries, there’ll be players coming up. If somebody up here doesn’t perform, these other players will come up because there are players down there knocking on the door down there for next season.”
On playing the kids
“Well, I’ll leave that up to Lindy. In the end, it’s still about winning, it’s going to be performance-based. In the end, the players make it easy for us. If you’re playing well, you’re probably in the lineup, if you’re not, you come out and that’s the way the system should work. In the end, they make it easy for us.”
On specific disappointments this season
“There’s a lot of factors I could go into, but I think the injuries played a big part of it, but also, I think our young defense, because of the injuries, struggled early and it probably wasn’t fair to them at times, thrown into situations. And we had a lot of players that struggled early. That’s when you find out a lot about your team, in that. I keep saying to have success, you have to have failure, and we’re going to learn from this and get better.”
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