OTHER snippets from inside the dressing room on the decision to fire Claude Noel and Perry Pearn:
Olli Jokinen:
"This is a tough market to play in. Any Canadian market, expectations are high. You've got a lot of media attention. You've got 15,000 GMs watching the games and another couple hundred thousand at home.
"You can't worry about what other people are saying, how other players are playing, are you going to play enough, whatever the excuses you can find, it's there. But you can't use those excuses. You've got to be mentally strong and try to block everything out."
Dustin Byfuglien:
"We don't know what's going on on the other side. I didn't really see it coming. In Canada, the way you guys read it and the fans say they always want it, you never know what's going to happen around here.
"Something needed to be done and that was the first step. It's tough. We've got to look at ourselves. It's everyone on our team in here. It's never easy. Claude came in and did his best. He was a good guy so it's tough, but it's part of the job that no one's ever safe. We have to look at ourselves and move on."
Mark Stuart:
"It's not the kind of news you want to hear, especially when it's two guys like that. Good coaches, really good people. It's tough. It's not a fun day today, for sure. We haven't performed and in this business, unfortunately, somebody has to take the fall for that. As a player and, especially as a leader, you feel responsible. There's been a lot of wake-up calls this season. The way we've played and the way we've lost, those are wake-up calls. And if this isn't a wake-up call then I don't know what is. We need to get better and respond to this."
Zach Bogosian:
"It sucks, because as players you feel responsible. It's our actions on the ice, and those guys had to pay for it. It's never fun. It's a sad day. We've been hearing for years now that we're young, we're building. You can say all that, but we have to take a step forward and we have to play a lot better than we have been."
-- Tait
