How short is the rope?

Terry Murray hasn't been shy about shifting players in and out of the lineup (Calder, Richardson, Harrold, etc.) so I thought it might be interesting to ask him about his philosophy, in terms of how patient he is with players he believes are underachieving...

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Question: In general, when you talk to a guy and tell him he needs to improve in certain areas, how much rope do you give him before you say, `Hey, I've got to make a change'?

MURRAY: ``You like to see a player respond almost immediately to a meeting, to put some focus on the area that we're addressing, whether it's shooting the puck or being more responsible on the defensive part of it and working harder and battling and making smarter plays off the boards in the offensive zone. Immediate action, immediate response would be important, from the player's side of it. I think it also goes to who the player is. As they say in sports, everybody is treated equal, but really they are not. If you're going to have a couple of your top-line players who you need to address for any particular reason, you're going to give them a lot of rope and time to turn it around, because you know that they can make a difference in the game in any given shift. On the other side of it, if it's players that are new to the team or maybe just working their way into the NHL, maybe the rope is a little shorter in those situations.''