Alain Vigneault spoke with reporters following Rangers practice today (NYR):
On Jarret Stoll being waived, "after trying different scenarios. We
felt that our best option was playing Dom in the middle. When we came
to that conclusion and Jarret on the wing, it hasn't been an easy
transition for him. After discussing it at length the past couple of
days, we figured that Jarret is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, by
putting him on waivers maybe another team picks up him and gives him an
opportunity. We will see what happens and then go from there."
If he doesn't get claimed, "we will discuss it tomorrow. We just felt that we needed to give him this opportunity."
On Klein and Stepan, "both of those players are day to day, both
skated for the first time with the group. From my understanding they
both responded well. We will see how they do tomorrow, depending on how
they feel they might be part of our morning skate. They definitely won't
play, but we will give them another opportunity to skate with the
team."
"Dan Girardi has got some swelling in his knee. He is day
to day, he will be out...I'm not sure how long, depends on how the
swelling does. We will probably need to call someone up for the game
tomorrow. We are in the process of talking to Ken in Hartford and we
will sort that out here. It would be Diaz but Diaz has been hurt. We
will have to see what happens."
Dan won't play tomorrow, "no."
Will Step and Klein make the trip, "I will have a better answer on
that after Wednesday's practice. We will practice before we leave and
depending on how they do in the practice we will decide."
On
this current stretch and dealing with it, "For me, I am all part of the
process and how we need to play. That is my job as the head coach,
making sure how the players know how to play. Our record in the last 10
games, we are playing better than our record indicates. Where as prior
we weren't playing as well as our record. I do believe that we are on
the right track, we showed a lot of character in the last two games
coming back three times and even if you consider the game in Vancouver,
we were down 1-0 and came back. At the end of the day this game is about
winning and we need our leaders to have their play do the talking. They
need to lead by playing well. I need to continue to challenge the group
to play up to their potential. That is what me and my staff are doing,
challenging the group to play the right way. It's coming along."
How long has Girardi had the knee issue, "I would say that it happened
in Vancouver, blocked a shot during a play in the third period and it
swelled up a bit, nothing bad and then playing back to back it didn't
get better."
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Derek Stepan spoke with reporters after skating today in a non-contact jersey (NYR):
"Felt good. It was good to be back on the ice with the guys, even
if it was an optional skate. Felt good to be out there. Me and Kleiner
skated a couple of days by ourselves but it's not the same as skating
with the whole group."
Any idea where you are, 'I felt good. I was able to skate in a non-contact jersey today and we will see how it reacts."
Is it ahead of schedule, "I don't know if we have a schedule quite
yet. With ribs it's weird, you never know when they are going to heal,
you can't do much for them, you can't ice them, no cast to put on them,
there is no real schedule to it. I don't know if we are ahead of
schedule, on schedule or behind schedule."
On the hit that hurt
him, "I never saw him coming to start. It's not that he hit me from my
blindside or what. When I made the pass I was trying to protect Hayes, I
made the pass to Hayes and I was trying to be his eyes and I was
yelling to him because a defenseman was pinching down on him and in the
meantime I wasn't protecting myself and I was screaming and trying to
tell him that a defenseman was coming on him and I was trying to be his
eyes and I left my eyes."
Alain Vigneault said that Stepan
responded well to skating today and how he reacts to Wednesday's
practice will determine if he joins the team on the road trip.
On the struggles of the team, "It's easy to sit and watch on TV and
wonder this or that or the other thing but at the end of the day, the
majority of the trip there were a lot of good things done. When things
were going the wrong way they ended up in the back of the net. There was
more good than bad but when the bad was happening it ended up in the
back of the net. As a group they are focusing on limiting the amount of
times they go into the defensive mode of the game. The game is played in
shifts, when you have the puck and when you don't, and when we don't
how can we make sure that we maintain and keep the puck out of the net.
Teams will get chances, you will never stop that. It's maybe stopping
that second chance or making a mistake on top of a mistake."
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Kevin Klein spoke with reporters after skating today in a non-contact jersey (NYR).
On how he is feeling, "I felt good. Always nice being back with the guys. Went pretty well for the most part."
On the skate today, "That was the first hard skate. Getting the legs
back and making sure tomorrow that it reacts well to what we did today."
On how close he is, "I think it's pretty close. I don't want to give it
a time frame, I went almost 100% out there. A few things would bother
it but the main thing is not letting it get tight and re-injure it.
Tomorrow I will see how it reacts and if it's good I can skate hard
again."
On seeing the struggles, "you have that inner person that
wants to be out there with the boys. If it was just a pain thing I
could be out there no problem but it's the fact that you use your core
so much in every aspect and you don't want to be hurting the team or
re-injure it so that you are out another three weeks. The competitor,
it's hard to watch. You just hope the guys rebound the way we know we
can."
Did you know when it happened, "I knew right away. I wasn't
even close to anyone, I just tried to turn to explode and I was having
some issues during the pregame skate and I thought it would loosen up
and it didn't. I've never had anything like this before so as soon as it
went I felt it pop and I knew...hopefully we could get a whistle
because I couldn't really move."
Alain Vigneault said that Klein
responded well to skating today and how he reacts to Wednesday's
practice will determine if he joins the team on the road trip.
Jim Cerny
