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Paul MacLean has never had more time to get ready for the opening of training camp.
Now, he's getting ready for a rollercoaster ride.
The Senators coach is making last minute-preparations for the opening of training camp Sunday at Scotiabank Place. There are plenty of questions as the club tries to get back to the playoffs for the second straight spring.
Ottawa Sun hockey columnist Bruce Garrioch had a chance to speak 1-on-1 with MacLean Tuesday on the eve of training camp and a 48-game sprint to the post-season.
Here is the edited conversation:
SUN: What is your approach going into camp? Short camp, no exhibition games and shortened season ... You've never had more time to prepare, but it seems like a rush?
MACLEAN: "We have to get our team ready to play. When the training camp starts regularly, two days into training camp you're playing an exhibition game. The players are used to playing right away. Now, we're going to have seven days without a game, so it's going to be different from that point of view. We're trying to keep it as normal, and as ordinary, as we can. Basically, back to business, and the way we've done training camp in the past. We don't have the numbers so there's just going to be one practice and maybe a couple of scrimmages at night to get the players in that mode. There's only going to be the one block of the three hours a day where we can get the players in and get things done. There's going to be an emphasis on systems and a big part of training camp is going to be spent on special teams -- the power play and penalty killing. Those two things can get us up, get momentum and win games for us ... The most important thing we have to do is get bumping into each other. We have to get the body contact and the battle part back. We have to skate."
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LIVE CHAT FRIDAY, 12:30 p.m.: Join Sun hockey writers Don Brennan and Aedan Helmer Friday for a live chat about the Senators and the NHL as training camps open on the weekend. Got a question you want to ask? Email it right now to ottsun.sports@sunmedia.ca or Tweet @ottawasuncom
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SUN: When you look at your team, is it good that there are only five or six guys who didn't play during the lockout?
MACLEAN: "Our expectation is that we're going to be ready to go. Our players have been told at the end of last season -- and just before training camp -- that the expectation from the coaching staff is that they're ready to go. We feel that our leadership group is very professional and we think when we get started we're just going to get up and go."
SUN: People have to remember everybody is in the same situation, right?
MACLEAN: "There are 30 teams the same as we are. Some teams had more guys playing than others. A lot of the time it's who can get going. We have a lot of returning players, so the system part of our game (should be fine). If we can get to our identity right away, that's going to give us a chance to have success early and dictate the way the game is played."
SUN: Given the changes that happened over the course of the summer, what do you think your identity will be?
MACLEAN: "We're not changing anything. Our team is hard-working, play 200 feet and when we skate, that's when we're a good team. We're not going to be a team that sits back. We're actually going to try to score, we're going to try to handle the puck better, defend better and have our special teams be better. Every team in the league wants to do those things, but we feel the identity of our team is a hard-working and hard-skating team and that's what we have to (do)."
SUN: Can guys like (Jason) Spezza and (Erik) Karlsson pick up where they left off last year?
MACLEAN: "Spezza was the fourth-leading scorer in the league last year and the fact that he was playing (during the lockout) helps us. The success at the Spengler Cup is good for us. That's a big confidence booster coming into the season. Our offence is going to run through him and he eats a big bunch of those minutes, so having him play well is always important. We think he's going to come back and even be better than he was last year. That's our expectation. The same goes with Erik. We just want him to be Erik. We don't expect to try to do anything different than he's done in the past. He doesn't have anything to live up to really. He just has to come in and be himself. If he's himself, we think everything's going to go fine. We want to make sure we guard against those guys trying to do too much too soon. They just have to be themselves."
SUN: How about Guillaume Latendresse and Jakob Silfverberg? One guy (Latendresse) is trying to revive his career and the other (Silfverberg) is trying to show he belongs?
MACLEAN: "We have two guys who are motivated to play in the league for different reasons. One guy because he's just starting and the other because he wants to show it wasn't a fluke the first time. Whenever you have a motivated player, and however they're motivated, that's a good thing for us. We feel they are going to be top-six players and we have to give them the opportunity to be top-six players. We also know Colin Greening had a pretty good year playing with Spezza and (Milan) Michalek. We have other players who have played well for us -- Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman in Binghamton. We have Zack Smith and Peter Regin is back playing. To start out, we want to give these guys a chance to develop chemistry and see if we can get some offence going right away."
SUN: You can always go back to Daniel Alfredsson on that top line as well, right?
MACLEAN: "We can always go to Michalek, Spezza and Alfredsson any time we want. At times, we did that in the past and we'll do that in the future because we're going to be playing some games in short time frames and we're going to need to do things. Right now, we're trying to find a good balance the best way we can and develop chemistry. This is how we're going to start. We change it in two days."
SUN: Was this lockout good for Daniel Alfredsson?
MACLEAN: "It's good for some of our veteran players that they're starting later in the year, but you've still got to get up to speed. The fitness level Daniel has is elite. We anticipate he's going to up to speed with everyone else but the older you get, the harder it gets as well. That's just reality. We think Alfie is a big part of our team. The only guy I think it was really good for was Silfverberg because he got a chance to be playing on a small rink and Binghamton has got a really small rink. His adjustment to playing in a smaller rink is over with. Now, he can come to the NHL and he should have a comfort level."
SUN: You're going to have some decisions on defence?
MACLEAN: "We have opportunities on defence. Jared Cowen's injury is significant and Mike Lundin's isn't as significant because he's going to come back. We still think he's going to be able to help us and be good for us. Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Borowiecki, Andre Benoit and Eric Gryba have played very well for us in the AHL. So those four guys, the opportunity is going to be there for one, two or three of them depending what we do with Jared being out for the season."
SUN: Why do you like Marc Methot playing with Karlsson?
MACLEAN: "Watching Methot playing for six years in Columbus, he's a really steady player. To me, he's an NHL defenceman. He can play it physical, he's got skill, good hockey sense and he works hard for his partner. He's big and he's strong. He has the ability to stand up for his teammates as well. He's just a good all-around player. We just feel he'll be strong to play with Erik and he can take some things in the defensive zone. He can also help Erik by getting the puck."
SUN: Any concerns Craig Anderson hasn't played?
MACLEAN: "Everybody has that concern but I have two other goalies that have been playing. I'm going to play the best guy. Craig Anderson is the No. 1 goaltender. He's earned that opportunity, he's earned that right, but we all know he's not playing 48 games. The schedule is going to be compressed, he's not playing every game. Is he going to play the majority? More than likely. We're going to make sure everybody is ready to go and the best guy is going to play when we start. We have a lot of confidence in the three guys that we have."
SUN: What are your expectations for this team?
MACLEAN: "The expectation of our organization as a whole is to win and become an elite team. We have to build towards that. I don't think we're in a position to say, 'We're going to do this and we're going to do this.' We don't control that. What we do control is how hard we work and skate. We feel if we can do those things again and establish our identity we're going to like where we are, just like we did last year."
bruce.garrioch@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @sungarrioch
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/01/09/garrioch-goes-1-on-1-with-ottawa-senators-coach-paul-maclean
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