O’Sullivan “frustrated” with role

The Patrick O’Sullivan saga has been interesting to follow, and impossible to ignore after last night, when he got dropped to the fourth line for a major part of the game. Today, O’Sullivan again skated on the fourth line, this time alongside Brian Boyle and Brad Richardson, and after practice O’Sullivan discussed his frustration. The nice thing about blogging is that you can read everything O’Sullivan said, in context, so give it a read. A bit later, I’ll have Terry Murray’s thoughts on the situation. Not surprisingly, they’re a bit different. Here’s O’Sullivan…

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Question: It looked like you were on another new line today. How are you feeling about things these days?

O’SULLIVAN: “I’m pretty frustrated. I don’t really know what’s going on. It seems like our lines change every day. It’s pretty frustrating. I don’t know the reason. I’ve been through a lot in two years, trying to play at this level. I thought that last year I did a lot to establish myself as a player in this league and someone that’s able to play at a high level in this league, but it seems that with the new coach I have, I guess I need to prove myself all over again. That’s frustrating, but then again, I wasn’t here for camp, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with what’s going on or not.”

Question: But you’re feeling fine, physically?

O’SULLIVAN: “Yeah, it has nothing to do with how I feel physically. I feel better than I ever have before. Obviously there’s something, but I don’t know what it is.”

Question: I hear guys say that it matters less who they play with and it matters more that they just have consistent linemates. Is that a fair statement?

O’SULLIVAN: “Absolutely. It’s easy to say as a player, I guess, because you want something that’s going to be consistent and you want to be able to get used to guys, especially when there are a lot of new players. It’s tough when it’s changing all the time, but at the end of the day, those are decisions made by the coach. He’s got the final say and we do what he says. I don’t think anyone here doesn’t believe in what we’re trying to do, so as a player you just shut your mouth and you play, but it is frustrating.”

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