Obviously, I've been out [on the streets] the last couple of days but like I said everyone has been very supportive and I appreciate that." ~Dan Cloutier
"That's all right. That comes with the position, I guess. I choose to play goalie and that's one of the things that comes with it." Dan Clouteir, on all that criticism he is receiving in the media
"I've always tried to take the positives and that's pretty big for my career. I think you guys said after that Game 7, it was the biggest game of my career and I won that.... That's going to stick with me." ~Cloutier talking to the media
"It is absolutely, absolutely ridiculous. Everyone in this whole city is pointing a finger at him. It's totally ridiculous. I don't understand why it happens. Year in, year out they pick on the goaltender, especially Clouts, and it's ridiculous. He's been our MVP for the whole year.... You want to point fingers and blame someone, you can blame me. I can take it, I can handle it." ~Bertuzzi, speaking of the heat Cloutier is receiving
"I'm pissed off because it's so unfair. This guy has been our best player the whole year and at times we have really struggled but he has given us a chance to win every game and he has done that in the playoffs, too. There's no other goalie in the league that I'd rather have behind me [than] him. I know everybody feels the same way on this team." ~Mattias Ohlund
05/08/03
"This is a continuation of his journey as a goaltender and as his experience builds up for him he'll get better," Canucks goaltending consultant, Ian Clark before game 7.
"Danny will be fine. He's a big boy. He can bounce back from tonight and he will. He's the reason we're in these playoffs to begin with so he'll be fine." ~Todd Bertuzzi, jumping to his teammate's defence after game 7.
04/13/03
"I play to win."
"Well you'd rather have the cheers than the boos. It was great. It felt good."
--Cloutier, who got that reaction from the GM Place crowd Thursday after their second playoff game against St. Louis
01/27/03
Q: Who would you least like to face on a break away: Naslund or Bertuzzi?
A: "Oh, i guess whoever I say, the other guy's going to be upset with me. They're different types of players. On a penalty shot situation I think Marcus just because he's so patient and he has such great moves. I'd have to pick Marcus, but Todd is great on breakaways, too. You could flip a coin with those two guys."
Q: How has becoming one of the top goalies in the NHL affected your social life?
A: "It hasn't affected my social life at all. I still do the same things. Playings in Vancouver is a little different than playing in the States attention wise, but people here have been great and it hasn't affected me at all."
12/12/02
Canucks.com Chat:
Q: The Vancouver Canucks have a reputation of being one of the most "charitable" teams in the league, always giving back to the community. You guys seem to enjoy doing stuff like that - it doesn't seem like you're being forced to do it, and I think that's wonderful. I was just wondering what you, personally, take out of the visits to Canuck Place, or Children's Hospital?
A: I think it is really important for us to give back to the community. For me it really means a lot to sit with children who are going through tough times and put a smile on their face, it is really special. For them getting to forget about where they are and what they are dealing with even for a little bit is a good break and I really enjoy visiting them.
Q: When you're travel with the team, are there members that you'd like to be sharing a room with? Or avoid sharing a room with?
A: When we travel I usually get my own room. Goalies usually get their own room, I don't know why but it has always been that way, so I don't really have to worry about that.
Q: If you were a general manager of a team, what type of player would you build your team around? A guy like Joe Sakic, or Joe Thornton? Chris Pronger? Markus Naslund? Cliff Ronning? Trevor Linden? Someone else?
A: Those are all great players to build your team around. You could easily build your team around a guy with a "Franchise Player" tag associated with him. A guy like Joe Thornton with a big upside and still relatively young would be a good choice. I am surprised that there were no goalies in your list though! ;-)
Q: Vancouver must be a particularly rough town on goalies - when we love'em, we REALLY love'em... and the opposite extreme applies as well. Have you found it particularly tough to settle in here because of this?
A: When I first got traded they told me about that and I kept that in the back of my mind. To keep away from that I try not to read the sports sections, listen to talk radio or watch the sports on the news to avoid it. The media are with you one day and against you the next, but in a way that is their job. The fans here have been great though. You all are really supportive and have been great ever since I got here.
12/07/02
"He's been very impressive. Quite truthfully, he has been. He's showing a lot of maturity as a goaltender. He understands what he has to do to be pretty effective right now. And it's showing in his play lately."
--Marc Craword on Dan Cloutier's play of late.
Q: When you guys made the deal for Dan Cloutier, he was kind of struggling and playing on some poor teams. What has he done to turn it around?
A: (Brian Burke): I think one of the hardest things in the world for management to do is to evaluate goaltending on a struggling team. And I think when you watch a guy play on a team that is struggling, it's tough to evaluate whether he can stop the puck or if he'd be able to stop the puck with better circumstances. But we all felt very strongly that was the case with Dan. So we got him into a situation where he had a manageable number of scoring chances and a quality defense in front of him. And, you know, last year was his first year in the NHL as a starter and he won 30 games. Not many guys win 30 games in their first year as a starter."
11/12/02
"I don't know, maybe he and Mellanby had something going from their days in Florida. But I thought he settled down and played well in the third. he made a couple of key saves that kept them from tying the game"
- Marc Crawford on Cloutier's dust up with Mellanby.
"Those are the things that stay on the ice and like I said, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, and I shouldn't have down it but it didn't cost my team."
--Dan Cloutier on what Mellanby said to get him so riled.
"Yeah I did. It was pretty funny actually."
--Dan Cloutier when asked if he saw the jackass who climbed the protective netting behind his goal with five minutes remaining in the third.
October 2002
"It was just one of those things where it tipped at the last minute," Cloutier said of Nolan Baumgartner's shot that was tipped by Trevor Linden and caught him high on the mask. "I didn't really see it. It actually hit me where the screws go into my helmet so that's why I got cut there."
Cloutier got some laughs, from the media at least, when he returned to the ice and used his goalie stick like a white cane as he shuffled back into the net.
"I thought the guys would get a good chuckle out of that one, but right now it's tough around here to get any laughs," said Cloutier.
Septmeber/October 2002
The team's two game slide hasn't robbed Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier of his sense of humour. After watching Murray Baron collide with associate coach Jack McIlhargey at the other end of the ice during Thursday's practice, Cloutier yelled out for everyone to hear "Old time hockey!"