It’s probably an understatement to say that Tim Stützle enjoyed playing with Team Germany running mate Leon Draisaitl during the Olympics in Milan.
He’ll share the ice with Draisaitl once again on Tuesday night as the Senators visit the Oilers, but that enjoyment might wear off as they return to their usual relationship of being opponents in the NHL.
“He was awesome, he was a great leader,” said Stützle of his experience with the Oilers star in Italy.
“I knew him before, but not as well as obviously now spending every day with him, I had a lot of fun. Yeah, he’s just a pro. He does everything the right way, to see him get to work every day, how he prepares for games, was awesome to see. Obviously he’s an unbelievable player, not just in practice, [but] in games, it’s been fun watching him and fun getting to play with him as well.”
After using Sunday as a travel day to fly from Toronto to Edmonton, the Senators practiced on Monday. That practice marked the first time Stützle has skated with the team outside of games since the Olympic break — he was labelled a game-time decision due to a sickness for Thursday’s overtime loss to Detroit and didn’t take morning skate before the Senators won in Toronto on Saturday night.
Therefore, it also marked the first time that Stützle met with the media since returning.
“Obviously because we didn’t have a great round-robin, we had to play a lot of back-to-backs, so we played I think, five games in seven days, so there wasn’t a lot of free time. When we had some rest days, we were actually resting and didn’t actually leave the [Olympic] village,” explained Stützle of his experience in Milan.
“Going for dinners, but also just hanging out in the physio room, watching hockey, watching other events. So, yeah, we were hanging out a lot with the team, but obviously if you play a lot of minutes and you play a lot of games, just trying to get as much rest as you can.”
As he returns to practicing with the team, Stützle is eager to help will the Sens back into a playoff spot. Before play begins on Monday night, the Sens stand five points out of the second wild card position.
“I think we’ve been playing some good hockey games,” he said. “Especially before the break, I think it was really important for a lot of guys to get some rest as well, and yeah, they came back with a lot of energy. It’s been awesome to see, and I think against Detroit we played a solid game as well, maybe deserved a little bit better fate, but last game too, I think we played really well, and yeah, it was a big win for us.
“Yeah, we’ve just got to keep building. We keep getting better and keep trusting our process, and I think if we play the way we’ve been playing, we have a chance to win every night. And we know it’s going to be hard [to make the playoffs], but we definitely believe in this group.”
