David Quinn met with reporters after the morning skate today and said (NYR):
On Marc Staal sitting after battling the flu, “He’s recovered, I don’t know if he has fully recovered. It’s been a long year, he’s played a lot of minutes for us, been a warrior. Battled the flu, probably shouldn’t have played him the other night so I told him to take the complete day off and he will be back in on Monday.”
On Buchnevich, “the thing that I really liked about him was that I didn’t think he had a great night in Dallas and to come back the way he did showed maturity and another step in his development, he has been playing good hockey for about three weeks now. It’s no coincidence that with how he is competing and skating that he is getting rewarded offensively and that is usually how it works. I’m really happy with where his game is at. I think he is just playing harder and better and more consistent and better and going to the areas he needs to go. I think it’s way more about his mental commitment and purpose and how hard he is working.”
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How did Shattenkirk react to being scratched, “very well, very well. He and I had had conversations leading up to it so he wasn’t surprised, we had a long talk not only about right now but what he is going to have to do moving forward. I’m excited to see what he’s got tonight.”
On Brendan Lemieux so far, “I had a pretty good feel for him and he comes as advertised, maybe a little bit better than I thought. When he gets in better shape, and I’ve said this a lot, he’s not a lazy guy and is out of shape, he just didn’t play that much, playing 6 minutes a night in the NHL it’s tough to stay in shape no matter what you do in skates and practice. I think he is getting in game shape. The thing I love about him is that when he comes to the bench he is exhausted because he gives an honest and full effort with every shift. That is how you get in shape in this league. I knew he had some offensive flair, he can shoot it, quick hands, I think there is an offensive element to his game.