Quotes of the day: Armia, Gallagher, Suzuki & Julien

MONTREAL - The Canadiens skated at the Bell Sports Complex on Tuesday.

Following their on-ice session, forwards Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki met the media.
They were followed at the podium by head coach Claude Julien.
Here are a few highlights from their Zoom-based Q&A with reporters:
Armia believes countryman Jesperi Kotkaniemi's game has come a long way since they've been teammates in Montreal:
He's a much better skater now than he was before, and obviously he's getting stronger every year. His hockey sense is also getting better. His hockey abilities have always been good, but now that he's adding a little bit of size and strength, he's going to be really good.

For his part, Gallagher insists Kotkaniemi has the tools to be particularly effective on the power play this season:
You've seen the growth. He's getting better and better, which is really exciting for our group. That's what he is. He's going to have to make a lot of plays, but I think most importantly he's going to have to be prepared to shoot the puck. He's got such a good shot that maybe at times he could use it more, and the more he shoots, the more success we're going to have, so if he can make teams respect that, everything else is just going to come naturally to him and good things are going to happen. He's definitely a guy that when the puck's on his stick, he can make a play, and hopefully it ends up in the back of the net.

When asked to identify one element of this team that has him feeling confident about their chances to make some noise in the months ahead, Gallagher responded:
It's hard to really put your finger on one thing. The guys that we added all fill different types of roles. I think the biggest thing is the size that we have. We want to be harder to play against. I think we brought in a bunch of guys that are going to do that. We brought in a lot of competitors that are going to help add to that, and the guys we have here are ready to live up to that as well. We always want to play fast. That's something the Montreal Canadiens have always done. You want to live up to your identity, and going into every game, usually if you can control the way the game is played, it suits our identity. More times than not, we're going to have success.

Suzuki, meanwhile, is embracing the inevitable pressure on both him and Kotkaniemi this year, but he's feeling at ease in his surroundings coming off a solid freshman campaign:
KK and I have talked about it a little bit. We want to be important players for this franchise moving forward and we've talked about building our game towards winning a Stanley Cup, so we've definitely talked about our goals. But I think coming into camp for me, it's a lot more comfortable than last year. Even going into camp in a bubble, I felt more prepared for camp, more comfortable with the guys, so it's been a pretty easy transition into this camp.
Suzuki centred a line flanked by Jonathan Drouin and newcomer Josh Anderson for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, and one specific aspect of Anderson's game immediately caught his attention:
There was one play in practice where he just took off. Me and Drou were off to the side and we just looked at each other and smiled. We knew we couldn't wait to get that down our wing. He's big and fast. I think he fits us as a line perfectly.

Julien is confident Suzuki will be a significant contributor during his sophomore NHL season:
He has the potential to be an impact player. He's a guy with good maturity and good confidence, but he's far from arrogant. He's very humble. He knows his strengths and his confidence level. Since he joined us, we've always said that he's an intelligent player. He reads the play well. These traits will make him an impact player this season.

Julien also sees good things ahead for veteran newcomer Corey Perry:
We know what Corey Perry can bring. He's a big body. We know that he has a lot of experience. He's a winner. He has a Stanley Cup and represented Team Canada. No matter what people have said about him, that he maybe slowed down a bit, he still has a ton of assets. There aren't many players better than him on the power play, in front of the net and around the net. He's an intelligent guy. You saw him today with his decisions with the puck, or even without it, his experience. We added depth with guys like him, that when we look at last year, he was a very good player for the Dallas Stars. We saw him score big goals in the Final. A winner is a winner, and I think it's important to have guys like that in the locker room and available for us on the ice as well.