Michel Therrien Transcript

Q. There's been some comparison to how your team carries itself, and how it plays similar to the Oilers in the early '80s when they started their run of success. From your memory of watching them, maybe some of the knowledge of the people that you've met from that team, do you see comparisons and how so?

COACH THERRIEN: It's really tough to compare. Honestly, I'm not a big fan about comparison, about if it is teams or players. I think it's unfair.

Are you going to compare Rocket Richard to Jean Beliveau and Jean Beliveau are we going to compare to Guy LaFleur and Gordie Howe and all those type of players? And the list could go on and on to Wayne Gretzky, and Mario Lemieux, and now we have Sidney Crosby and all those type of players.

If we end up winning Stanley Cup, I think we're not quite there because we haven't won anything yet. But we're a good bunch of young players that, first of all, they're having a fun time to be together, and they're having a fun time to compete. And they're having a fun time with their work ethic, and they've got success with it.

If you want to make a comparison, I think that's the only way we can compare that young group, because we haven't won anything yet.

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COACH THERRIEN: Well, I believe your question is a bit different right now (laughing). There's no doubt Yzerman was one of the youngest captains in the NHL. Sidney, he is right now. And they're learning through experience. Even though Sidney's only 20 years old, he's a true leader. Really a true leader. And the way that he's going to handle himself on the ice, the way he's going to handle himself off the ice, that's why he's such a good leader for our group.

Yzerman did the same thing. It took him a few years to win the Stanley Cup, there's no doubt. But any team they rely on their captain. And I believe right now Sidney Crosby is doing a fantastic job first of all as a captain. He's doing a fantastic job leading our teams. And if you have comparison between those two, yes, yes.

But time will tell with their respective career, we know the career of Steve Yzerman, but right now Sidney's having a pretty good start with his career. But there's no doubt Yzerman was a great leader for the Red Wings, and Crosby right now is a great leader for our club.

Q. Have you mellowed at all? You have the nickname "Bulldog," and I'm wondering if...

COACH THERRIEN: I didn't know that (laughing). We learn everything.

Q. Have you changed much in your coaching style since, I don't know, perhaps you even took over Pittsburgh for that matter?

COACH THERRIEN: Well, well first of all, when I came to Pittsburgh there were a lot of things I wanted to change. And the way that we're going, I don't believe we're going to the right direction. And I didn't put my white gloves, because I didn't like the direction, the philosophy, and I want to make an impact right away.

But, honestly, we're growing all together. We've got a lot of young players, we're growing together. And there's a lot of those young guys we've spent some times together in the American Hockey League. Gave me a chance to know them really, really well. How they're going to be able to be successful.

And, you know what, there's not one guy that is the same. There's a lot of guys sometimes need a tap on the back, and this is the only way that they get better, and they're going to be able to be on top of their game. You could try to do the same thing with another player, and he's going to fall apart.

So knowing your player, growing together, it's a big plus for any coaches. Even with the guys that I was with in the American League with them, and there are some guys that I spent almost three years, the Jordan Staals, the Malkins, the Crosbys, all of those talented players didn't have to spend some times in the minors. But you start to know your players. You start to know how they're going to be successful, and the message when I meet those guys one-on-one, they're different from one to the other. And knowing your players is helping a lot.

Q. Do you get involved in rivalries or whatever with other coaches like I know you and John have had words during games I think in the minors. Do you look forward to going head-to-head with him in the playoffs?

COACH THERRIEN: Well, I hope it's going to stay on the ice. That's the number one thing. But we're part of a rivalry. We never know what's going to happen. He's a good coach. I respect him as a coach. He's got a lot of success. He did a fantastic job. Took a team last year that was struggling, and look what he's doing with the team this year. He's in the conference finals.

So as far as I'm concerned, he's a great coach and he's got a lot of success in the minors. He's the type of guy that will defend his players. And I'll do the same if I have to. But I certainly hope that the actor should act and play the game, that's the way it should be.

Q. I realize you're probably concerned about everyone on that Flyers roster and how to stop them and don't want to say anything that would be perceived as disrespecting anyone. But if there were one or two players that keep you up at night most, worried about if we stop them, that gives us our best chance of winning this series, who those one or two might be?

COACH THERRIEN: Well, first of all, it's a team affair. But you know one thing, their power play has been really successful – during the regular season and the Playoffs. So that's why, you know, we're expecting that it is going to be an emotional series from our side and from their side. I think we're going to have to control our emotion. I think discipline is going to be more important than being over emotional and hurt the team.

So for us, you know, it's like we're going to have to pay attention to our discipline, because they've got the power play. Guys like (Daniel) Briere can score big goals, big time goals. There's Richards, that as far as we're concerned, he's a good player on both sides of the ice. Martin Biron did a fantastic job in the playoffs so far to help them to be where they are right now.

So they've got a few weapons offensively. We've a few weapons offensively too as well. So that's why I think it's going to be really an interesting series.

Q. In the long period of time that Crosby was out and Fleury was out, what did you learn about your team?

COACH THERRIEN: You learn a lot of things. You give a lot of chance to different players got different roles. And this is one of the messages. Remember that once Sidney got hurt and we went to Montreal to play a game, and that was kind of the topic of my meeting before the game that we could get through those things. The adversity that we were facing. At that time we didn't have Fleury. We ended up losing Sid, and that was adversity for us to make the playoffs.

The resilience of that team never stops surprising me. You know, a guy like Malkin, elevates his game to another level. We needed that. We give other players different roles that they were not used to it. That's why, you know, it's like they learn through that adversity. They've got different roles. And when, like I told the players, if we could get out of this, we're going to become a better team. We are a better team than where we were at that time.

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