TALKING POINTS: Hitchcock talks about Klefbom's impact, upcoming schedule

Q: Did you like what you saw from Oscar today and will be able to go this weekend?
A: Well, we liked what we saw. We got another practice to go through tomorrow. First, we'll see how he feels in the morning after today. This is the first time he's gotten knocked around a little bit. He didn't participate in the last drill on purpose but he went the whole distance. We'll see how he feels in the morning and if he's able to participate again tomorrow then it's up to Oscar, the doctors and the training staff. But right now, the first test he passed today which is a good sign. Sekera was good. He got through and you know, Sekera still has a couple of more steps to go. He went through the tests today in a good fashion and now, his next stage is to decide where and when he's going to play games and get going from there. So, both guys passed today.

THURSDAY'S PRACTICE

VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Back from Break
RAW | Klefbom
RAW | Lucic
RAW | McDavid
RAW | Talbot
RAW | Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock
BLOGS & ARTICLES
RELEASE: Oilers recall Malone from Bakersfield
BLOG: Klefbom nearing return
BLOG: Oilers set for '32 playoff games' down the stretch
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Second Season
Q: It was a long break and a short time to prepare for this upcoming road trip. What are you trying to do?
A: I'm not concerned about the short time, I'm concerned that we're behind the eight ball. The games I've watched, anybody that's had an advantage game-wise, they seemed to play the tempo that the other team is unable to sustain. You saw a lot of the second halves of games - when teams are in their second game as opposed to a team in their first game - there's a distinct advantage for the team that's already played. We're behind the eight ball just on that Philadelphia game. They're playing their third game tonight. They'll be ahead and so that's significant. We're going to have to play catch up.
Q: This is perhaps your first chance to address the entire team face-to-face before the last 32-game stretch and a big change last week with Chiarelli. What was your overriding message to them?
A: We're here to play and this is 32 playoff games. There's going to be some real highs and some real lows. Somewhere in this 32-game stretch, we have got to tread water and then when we get on a run, we've got to run it all the way and go as far as we can with it because that's what's going to happen. A couple of teams are going to get on a run here - we want it to be us. We've been on two of these runs before already and we need to get on one more to get right in the middle of the race here. In saying that, we need to change some things and we put those in place today. Some of them were good and some of them need another day to get acclimated to. I really like some of the changes we've made and now we've got to put them into games. But it did make our team look a lot quicker and that's a good sign.

Q: You've tried your centreman all apart - all three guys - before. But if you fall behind, you tend to bust those lines up and go back to where you were. Is it different now?
A: No, it's going to be the same thing. I told the players that these are lines that we like. Depending on the score and depending on the score clock, we'll condense things. A lot of it is obviously depending on the score and depending on the game. We'll move people around as we see fit. We'd like to be able to stay with this but there's going to be games that we're going to be down a goal or there's going to be games where we're up a goal in the last two or three minutes. We'd like to take this as long as we can into every game and not have to force our hand. But we're prepared to make the changes necessary to get the wins. Chemistry sounds good and it looks good on paper and you want to stay with it but we're on a game-by-game basis and we need to adjust accordingly. What this does, though, this gives a number of people a real opportunity to participate and that's what we're looking for. I've said to you guys before, we need more participation by more people. This is a great opportunity for them and we're hoping some guys really take the ball and run with it.
Q: Was it difficult for you Ken, or more difficult, because Peter Chiarelli brought you in recently and you guys were planning together to move forward? Unfortunately, it's another change off the ice for the team.
A: Yeah, I really enjoyed working with Peter. We had really good dialogue and you understand the business after being in it for so long but I really liked working with him, I liked being around him, I liked the dialogue that we had. I liked everything we worked together on but we had a very small sampling together and like I said, I understand the business and I'm not a big part of his history. I want to be moving it forward but I'm trying to help these guys get to another level. But I can't do anything about the background. I did enjoy my time with him a lot.

Q: Klefbom's value has been well-documented. What can you realistically expect from a guy who's missed 20 games? And was there a day you'd consider this like a magic potion?
A: I don't think he's a magic potion but this is what he does. First of all, I don't even know if he's going to get cleared to play. We're hoping he gets cleared in some fashion to play quickly here - hopefully, it's in Philadelphia or Montreal. What a huge difference in Larsson. Klef is Klef. He's just solid in everything he does but there was a huge difference on the ice in Larsson. So, to me, that's the big plus. We get a helluva pair. It's not like you're bringing back an offensive juggernaut. You're getting a solid player who knows how to play at both ends of the rink. What it does is it gives us back the pair that was so good. Larsson's had a tough time and you could see all of the little plays they made under pressure today. Those weren't being made for a long time. That's a big, big difference. So, for me, when you see such a difference at practice, that's the part that gets you excited because now, it looks like we've got a helluva pair on the verge of coming back.
Q: You said you've changed things up and there were some different things here today. What might be the things we notice most when we see the Oilers coming out for this very important stretch?
A: You've got to buy a ticket (laughs). I can give you a discount if you want, but you've got to buy a ticket. Look, let's wait and see how we look. Hopefully, we look quicker and hopefully we look like we're playing on our toes more. A lot of this is technical stuff that would bore the heck out of you but it makes sense to the players. It made sense to them today in the meetings. It made sense to the coaches, so we're going to put them in place. The overall projection is we want to look quicker, we want to play on our toes and we want to be more aggressive.