Yes, this is saying “we have to do better”. It’s not some stinging condemnation of the entire team. The former is the right thing to say and the latter is bitchy thing some people weirdly want.
The team did become messier as the losing set in and the endless parade of ineffectual goalies got longer, but that will happen with a lot of losing and seven goalies (five of whom you never played with before).
Losing begats more losing, it a tough cycle to break, it doesn’t mean the players don’t care. Part of the reason you go younger is older players are more likely to simply mentally check out in situations like that. Young guys are excited for the opportunities while vets are too old for this shit.
Frustration as they work to get better is good, but hopeless apathy is a real threat, and that comes after misery. So no, I don’t want miserable players.
I believe in team culture, but that’s something you have to grow, helped along with some smart additions. I don’t know a lot of winning clubs where people complain about the culture and losing ones where they don’t though.
I wanted veteran defensive forward help in the off-season, before the PTO season, in hopes of avoiding the defensive mess that our bottom six was from the start. In the end we did get more looks at young guys (more so after everything fell apart, so I still don’t see what the plan was) and I don’t know if we were helped by the filler (Gauthier, Geertsen, AHL tweener call-ups) that happened earlier on.
We could have used the depth on both ends, Utica was pretty thin, so Fitz not getting anyone to replace the many forwards lost (including vets) seemed like a mistake at the time. I’m curious what he does this off-season.
The team can cull from the herd at this point if additions are made. I generally have more faith in the staff knowing who is a good locker-room culture guy than fans, who tend simply favor “guys who are producing” and “guys who’s facial expressions/body language and interview clips are interpreted as representative of ‘the right vibe’ according to me”.
Nico failed the latter test for a numerous people early on as a Captain this season, in part probably because he was also seen as failing the former one by them. I thought it was dumb then, the kid was an obvious gamer, stuck out as leader pretty early on, and got the C for a reason, but people love to bitch about that magic letter (and facial expressions apparently).
People want to win and want good locker room culture, but if the latter requires sacrifices they don’t want to make, well, they aren’t always so into it. The people interested in Evander Kane better not have anything to say about wanting a good locker-room culture guys since I don’t know a player whom I recently heard so many specific negative stories about their bad locker-room influences (and no, a love of museums doesn’t count). But the Oilers are winning with him, so who cares, right?
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