Twenty goals in 37 matches … If you continue like this, you will have 44 goals at the end of the basic part. Do you feel it?
(Laughs). Twenty goals are beautiful. If someone told me I would have them not in the middle of the season, I probably wouldn’t look at them with confidence. But keeping it up for 82 matches is very difficult. Sometimes you have a series where you get there, but then there are a few goals without a goal. It’s not easy.
During your weekend hat-trick, your longtime San Jose teammate, Martin Jones, was in the Philadelphia goal. What did he say at your show?
We were together with Justin Braun, who also played with us, the night before the match for dinner. They paid for it and then said: So we invite you and you to us like this? (Laughs). But that’s right, we need those points.
Did the coronavirus break that stretched over Christmas help you get well? You are definitely a Christmas type.
These are my favorite holidays. Unfortunately, I also caught a covid before Christmas Day, but I was nothing special and now I will have at least three months of peace. But before that break, I gave one hat trick in December (against Calgary). And I managed to follow it up smoothly.
The more you shoot, the more you push towards the goal. Are you trying to improve your shooting in training?
The larger number of bullets is probably crucial. I used to record when we went 2 on 1, while now I’m more likely to shoot because I know we don’t even have that many guys to score. I also already know that it is not important to score a beautiful goal, to sweep it somehow, but rather to hit where the place is. Take a look at Draisaitl, who almost doesn’t score those nice goals and leads the table of shooters. But the biggest change is that I’m currently scoring goals in training. I’m on the wave, it’s falling there, and that’s important.
You’ve never been a one-dimensional player, but now you have so many tasks that your time on the ice climbs well over 20 minutes.
It was almost 24 minutes with the Flyers, which will probably be my record in the basic part. Of course, I played even more in the playoffs with overtime. After Christmas, I only played once under 20 minutes. I also go to the bulls in the defensive zone and then I take turns. There’s a lot of it. You have to find strength, it’s not just about goals. For me, it’s also about power-ups, weakening, defensive play. But I have that trust, so I try to use it.
Who has missed you the most from your infirmary lately?
Sure Logan Couture, but Bonino also dropped out, so we didn’t have centers and he was also played by rookie Weatherby and then the boys from the farm, who, for example, played in the AHL on the wing. Fortunately, the quarantine is only five days away and Couture is back.
Evander Kane would certainly be useful, but with whom the club management intends to terminate the contract due to another affair.
I just know something happened on the farm, but I don’t know the details. He protests against this together with the Players’ Association. I would not like to comment more on this.
You have been playing for the Sharks in the NHL for the ninth season. Most fans still have you fixed as a carefree laughing boy, but with the role of a leader, you have more wrinkles. Coach Boughner said you could be pretty angry. Does it fit?
It’s not so visible, but friends who know me know that I hate defeats at all. For example, when we play Activity, I can be pretty sharp (laughs). I can also get angry in the cabin and yell. To say the fullest that we were terrible. Many young people don’t even realize what a chance they got in San Jose. There was a team of stars here for eight years and one or two players got up every year. So you need to play accordingly.
But you are still close to the Pacific Division’s promotion points in the blinded lineup. This is probably all the more valuable because many of the players who are joining you now are known only to real experts.
At the beginning we had to play without about seven players and we won. If you follow the system, even strong boys can beat those strong teams.
In the previous two seasons, you were wrong that you soon dropped out of the playoffs. Do you feel that you have it this year?
We had bad starts, but now we had a relatively good start. But then it started to go up and down. We need a winning streak. So far we have played only five matches against teams from our division, so we still have a lot of matches where, as they say, by four points. We have to record something until then, because then the losses are very difficult to catch up with.
Can he record that omikron is already quite out on your team, while other teams are still waiting for this patalia?
We’ll see. It was on your head. The boys didn’t even have symptoms or just had a cold, which you just have in these months. In the NFL, they only test players who have symptoms. We also have to get to that, otherwise we won’t get out of it.
At the beginning of your last season, the current four-year contract was about interest from Boston, and now the Rangers are being talked about. Has the negotiation of a new contract somehow moved?
Our general manager Doug Wilson is ill, only his assistant is here. So nothing new. But somehow I don’t notice it, I haven’t even talked to the agent about it. There is enough time until the transfer deadline and there will always be speculation. I want to win with the Sharks, that’s all I’m interested in.
Did it hurt you a little that you missed the Olympics again?
Well … I wouldn’t even say that. For the first time (in 2014) I didn’t drive due to an injury, now twice in a row from an NHL decision. So actually 12 years of a career in wonder. At the same time, when we signed the collective agreement, we thought we had it in our pocket. But the NHL leadership was not very interested in flying to China. Rather, they are happy to finish postponed matches in February. It is only played in the NBA, there will be no American football or baseball on television, the hockey audience should be good. I still believe that I will play at the Olympics in 2026. But who knows what will happen in four years. We don’t even know what next week will be.
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