Jeff Gorton met with the media earlier today and said the following (NYR):
- On looking for a center, "I think it's fair to say that we are always looking. We are comfortable with JT and know he can play all three positions. He hasn't played a lot of center in the NHL but in the past he has been able to do it. In the preseason we will take a look at him there and see where it goes."
- Are you comfortable with your forward depth, "I'm never comfortable with anything, you are always looking to get better at all positions, you always want to be deeper. We have some players we want to look at, two first round picks we want to look at in camp. A bunch of different things we are working on, we will see where it takes us. Everything now is on paper, we haven't seen pucks yet."
- Did you expect to have another center by now, "I wouldn't say that I expected that. A lot of times when people have to forecast and planning what we are going to look like on October 1, we are not looking at it like that. I'm looking at training camp and everybody and see how we look on the ice and we can adjust after that."
- On Lias Andersson, "he went to Plymouth and played really well. We like him a lot. He is a real character player, skill, has a passion for hockey to be really good. He is 18 years old, it's probably unfair to put too much expectation on him and we won't do that. We will give him some games and he will be in camp and we will see where it takes us."
- On Chris Kreider, "he just did his testing, he will be out there, he is okay."
- On how good the team is going to be, "I like our group, we have a lot of good players. In the summer we wanted to change our defense and give it a different look, more puck moving. Until we play games and get going and the guys start coming together we don't know the answer yet. The answer is yes, I like our team."
- On Marc Staal, "I think it was Rick Nash last year who said that every day he feels he has to compete for a job. I feel that for everybody, they all have to compete for jobs. If you are on the first line you want to stay there and get PP time, if you are on the second line you want to be on the first line, if you are on the fourth line you want to go to the third line and that is the kind of environment that we want. Marc has been a good player in this league for a long time, he can defend the best players, there is a lot that he can do for us. I don't think it's anything different for Marc. He will come in and try to play well and get as much ice time as he can."
- On the center market, "we all know that defense and centers are a big commodity and we are not the only team looking. I like to think that some of the guys here can do the job and we will give them the opportunity. Our focus is on seeing what the guys can do."
- On Henrik, "I still think that Henrik is one of the top goalies in the league, I think his teammates and coaches think that way. We haven't seen anything to tell us different. Henrik is a great goalie, a real driven player, motivated and I think he will have a great season."
- On Mika and Hayes, "They are both young players who have proven to be good NHL players. I think both of them want a bigger role and the opportunity came to make a move at center and move them up and see if they can do it and gave us some flexibility to do other things on the back end. I know they are both looking forward to the opportunity and see if they can step up."
- On the defensive depth, "we have some young players on defense that will try and make the team. You need that competition. If it looks like we have 9 or 10 NHL defensemen it will be good for us. It means we will have 6/7 really good ones here and then see what we can do with the other ones, see if they are ready or need to go to Hartford or see we have to move somebody. Those are situations that will hopefully play out in the next 3-4 weeks here."
