Dave Hakstol went on the radio yesterday in Trenton yesterday. You can hear the full interview above — it’s 13 minutes long — but we’ve picked out some of the more newsworthy quotes below.
On Nolan Patrick and his chances of making the NHL next season:
“The chance to draft a player like Nolan Patrick is a special opportunity for the franchise. He’s a tremendous young man, outstanding two-way player that’s going to make a lot of plays, we feel, and he’s gettin’ to work right now, gettin’ himself ready for training camp this fall.
There’s so many things to readiness to be a National Hockey League player. You look back at his track record; Nolan is going to turn 19 right as we get into the meat of training camp there so he’s got a little be of age and maturity to him. I’m going to look for a lot of little things.
Physically you look at his package overall and all of the predictors are that he is NHL ready but we’ve got to get in and do the work and make sure that it’s the right thing for him and for our hockey team. All of those questions — I know it’s a broken record — sometimes guys, you’d love to hear a little more certainty coming from me, but we have to go and do the work. I think he’s got a great opportunity with our hockey team, he’s a player that I’m really excited to work with, but let’s go through the process.”
On replacing Brayden Schenn’s offense:
“I think guys that aren’t on the roster yet — you know, I’m interested to see where Nolan is in training camp. One of the things he’s going to do is provide offense if he’s with our hockey team. A young guy like Oskar Lindblom. There’s others that have the opportunity to show they’re ready to be on our team and grow and be part of that.
But also guys within our roster. The obvious one that comes to mind is a guy like Travis Konecny. There’s extra minutes available, I know Travis is going to do the work over the summer. I know that he’s going to have himself at a high level of readiness and I know he’s going to be hungry to assume a little bit more of those minutes, a little larger role, and he’s a guy that will step in and provide some of that as well.”
On if he wants Jordan Weal back next season:
“No bones about it, I hope Jordan is back with us. I think he can be a big part of where we go in the near future and the long future here. Really impressed with him as a worker, as a guy that’s hungry to get better and push and improve himself every day. Most importantly on game nights he’s a guy who goes out and gets the job done. He competes hard, he finds a way to impact and affect the game, and those are guys that you have to have on every spot on your lineup.
He obviously has to go through a process, he’s a free agent, and he’s obviously going to do that.”
On the goalie situation heading into free agency:
“That’s something that over the next few days here has a chance to be addressed. Again, timing is always a bit up in the air but I feel comfortable with Neuvy. He’s done a very good job for us and he’s going to come off of a year where he is probably not all that satisfied with the end product. I’m confident that he’ll step back in and elevate his game.
Stolie is a guy who came in and did the job, but in staying that, I think our position is that we want to strengthen ourselves in that area. The next few days will probably tell us a lot in that area.”
