The latest from training camp: Panarin speak, Gallant on ice time & personnel moves

If you are looking for a laugh on a Saturday afternoon, please watch Gerard Gallant’s post-practice press conferences from Thursday and Friday.  He does a masterful job of deflecting questions and he is very honest when he doesn’t have an answer. He just says it.

The availability after one day of practice was priceless.  He got questions about every possible line combination, player impressions, exhibition lineups and even Mika Zibanejad’s contractual status.  He had a standard response.  It’s day two of camp and it’s too early to say anything.

Here’s the full press conference if you want to watch it.

After the second full day of practice he was able to be a little more specific about certain issues and he actually made some news.

He said that by opening night, the entire team will be vaccinated. Remember, the NHL has made the rules so onerous on non-vaccinated players, it almost forced full vaccination.

When it comes to ice time, Gallant made it clear that he doesn’t intend to overuse any players.  He said “You don’t want to overwork people…it’s about  23 players committing…if you’re coach and you are gonna play your top players and they’re gonna be exhausted by Christmas time, I don’t think it’s going to work.” Historically, Gallant has been known as a coach who rolled four lines and relied on depth instead of leaning heavily on a handful of stars.

That’s going to be a change for Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad and good news for players who will be on the third or fourth line.  I especially applies to Adam Fox who led the team in ice time, playing almost 25 minutes per game.

After complimenting his offensive skills, Gallant said “We’re not going to kill the guy playing him 30 minutes.  We’re not going to put the burden on him to play all special teams and play 30 minutes a night.  That’s not going to happen.”

Gallant pointed out that when it comes to the penalty kill, the team has acquired some players who will be able to take the load off Fox.  That probably means Patrik Nemeth who averaged over three minutes per game on the penalty kill from 2017 to 2020.  Fox averaged 2:36 per game last season.

Gallant got a lot of questions about Ryan Reaves and it’s clear he is a Reaves fan, both for what he does on the ice and his impact in the locker room.  He pointed out that Reaves played 12 minutes per game for him in Vegas and had his best seasons.  Reaves was seen giving Vitali Kravtsov some tips.

When it came to rough stuff, there was a question about a dust-up between Ryan Lindgren and Alexis Lafrenière .  Gallant smiled broadly saying “I didn’t see nothing…maybe I was looking at my phone.”

As much as he deflected comments on Thursday, he did the same when asked about Sammy Blais and his potential impact.  He gave his standard answer. “That’s what training camp is all about.”

With the first preseason game Sunday night against the Islanders, look for a lot of young players to be in the lineup.  Gallant said the early games are an opportunity for young players to get a taste of the NHL so they will play. He’s always said that he hopes to have the roster finalized by the last three exhibition games.

While Gallant spoke about the team, Artemi Panarin spoke for the first time about a number of issues he faced last season.