TALKING POINTS: Hitchcock on 5-on-5, roster moves, injury news, and more

Q: After a tough weekend, did this team meeting maybe have a different tone or some different information?
A: Not so much that. I said last night we're not good enough 5-on-5. When we do, we were very effective. You look at the way we played last 30 minutes against Buffalo 5-on-5, you look at the way we played in Vancouver 5-on-5, and it's exactly what the formula is. As soon as we get away from that we feed the other team's strengths. We had things going well in Calgary and then fed their transition game, and they're quick. This team last night was very quick, they put a lot of pucks on net, and we fed their transition game.
Today our whole focus was looking at ourselves 5-on-5 - what's good, what's not good, and what needs to be cleaned up. We're built a certain way, and when we're allowed to play that way we're very effective. When we focus on playing that way we can really do damage, but when we got into the game and allowed Carolina to do what they did yesterday, it's a huge disadvantage for us and we spend the entire first period on our heels. We've had, for me since January 1, too many games like that. We've spent a lot of time on our heels because we've fed their transition game. When you get stuck on the quarter-ice game where you're basically chipping it out and changing or getting stuck on the ice, it's a bad formula. That's exactly what's happened on a regular basis here the last three weeks.

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BLOGS & ARTICLES
RELEASE: Jones assigned to Bakersfield
BLOG: Rattie, Spooner placed on waivers
BLOG: Klefbom return an expected boost for Larsson
BLOG: 5-on-5 play a focus
Q: You're finding it a hard time winning with this roster. Do you think you have good enough players to win here?
A: I don't like to get into that stuff. That's none of my business. What's going on with our hockey club is 100 percent on the players and coaches, and it's on us as much as the players. We've got one injury basically, and there's teams playing better 5-on-5 that have six or seven guys out. It's on us to play better, I don't care whatever roster is there. Everybody goes through peaks and valleys on how many healthy bodies or who your roster is and what you want, it's not my job. My job is to get our team playing at a much better rate.
When you look at our ratio since Christmas, the combination of special teams are 105-plus, which is really high. You win in this game 5-on-5, and it's the coaches and players' responsibility. We're just not good enough there right now. We're not playing well enough, consistently enough, and if that changes we'll win our share of hockey games.
Q: What did Rattie and Spooner not give you? Because they're on waivers.
A: It's more about what guys like Puljujarvi and Yamamoto are giving us. To me, they're competitive young guys and that's competition in the NHL. We're happy with the way they play and we're happy with what they bring. They're both getting better daily and for me, right now, they've won spots on the hockey club and get to play.
Q: For Spooner, is it more you just couldn't figure out where exactly to play him?
A: Not so much that. I think the emergence of those two guys pushed him back and Peter and his guys decided they're not going to have a bunch of guys hanging around. We've got a defenceman coming back that's going to take up a majority of ice time, so that's another veteran player. I think he felt like this takes the ball out of our court so we don't have to make these decisions. Those two young guys are here, they're staying, they're playing, and both guys are getting better daily. One guy's having much more of a major impact in the game in Puljujarvi, and Yamamoto looks like he's got the moxie to be a player.
Q: You've only got 12 forwards, so are you bringing someone up?
A: I think we're opening ourselves up to bringing one of those guys back in or looking at a couple guys who are playing exceptional down there that we might look at, so there's some flexibility for Peter's staff.
To me, this is on Yamo and Puljujarvi - their improvement has allowed us to give them spots for right now.
Q: Ken, the fans seem angry about effort and achievement. Particularly on the weekend. What do you say to them?
A: They're loyal as hell, and that's what they're going to be right to the end. They deserve to be angry. Other than seven minutes, I thought we played a hell of a hockey game against Calgary and lost to a good team. Last night was not acceptable, and that's on us. Our 5-on-5 play was extremely poor yesterday. The start was a direct correlation to the emotional amount of energy spent the night before, and that's on us. We thought we had them ready and regrouped, but obviously we didn't. There was a lot of debris from the night before and that's lessons learnt. We have to go about it a different way. It's on us to get these guys ready when it's an emotional game like that. The residue effect was a little deeper than we thought and we kind of made a mistake thinking that we were ready.
Q: Is it normal for a player like Adam who plays really well with one partner, but when that partner isn't there the game drops off because he's so used to playing with the same guy for a couple of years?
A: Larsson to me is a guy who's game is based on predictability. When it becomes unpredictable, then you become cautious and tentative. I think that's what Larsson got himself into. His game is a game that when thing things are going predictably when his partner's there, then there's an automatic response. Now there's hesitation and questioning going on. We'll try to help him here.
He'll get his partner back in one more game, and he's a good player who's had a rough month here. Sometimes when you get pushed a little bit higher up the chain, things happen and you get exposed in some situations that you're not normally in. That's what happened.
Q: Caleb Jones is still going to stay and play regularly, or are you going to drop him down?
A: I think we want to get Petrovic in now, so that's the focus. We'll see from there. That's another decision for Peter and his staff because Klefbom comes back right after. If Caleb isn't going to play on a regular basis when we get all the veteran guys back into the lineup, then he's going to have to make a decision.
Q: Do you expect Klefbom back right after the break?
A: Yeah we do. He's come along nicely and the 10 days will do him good. He's going to skate a lot of those days, so he should be up and running ready to go.
Q: Has Jones given you pause for perhaps playing ahead of some guys you consider veteran guys even when players are healthy on a third pairing?
A: That's dollars and cents, and not in my job description. We can express what we like, but then there's also dollars and cents decisions that you have to respect. So I stay out of that stuff. Whatever the 23 is I get to coach and where he wants to go and protect rosters, I understand that from a general manager's standpoint. I don't get involved in that.
Q: Has Sekera passed any tests so that he can go down to Bakersfield?
A: That's up in the air. He's still approaching that status. He's getting better and better with us, he looks really efficient, but there are still two more steps to go. There's obviously clearance in getting to Bakersfield, playing, then coming back. So I can't tell you that at this point.
Q: Can you send players down during the All-Star break to play in Bakersfield?
A: I don't really know those rules, to be honest with you. That would have to come from management. I'm not even sure if there's even scheduled games down there during the break, but my understanding is you can send them down. But I'm not even sure if they'll be playing.