It was interesting once again to listen to Methot and DBC talk about how people continue to underestimate how important the locker room is, and how it directly correlates to how hard the players are able and willing to work, how much they enjoy coming to work, and how far they are willing to go for each other in the ice.
In here there are some who understate this no matter how many pro players try to explain it. To me and many others it’s an obvious thing, and doesn’t just pertain to a hockey team.
Chabot and Brady are two vocal core leaders of the team. They also nicely represent forwards and D, French and English. Neither will be traded during this contract, or likely the next. Our guys go on and on to every new player about how awesome the ‘room’ is, both DBC and G mentioned it and are stoked. G even mentioned Brady as a reason to sign with Ottawa. These two players (Brady and Chabby) have helped build a team chemistry and identity that looks to have the potential to be deadly. This was the character that Dorion, Mann and company have been drafting and developing for years. No way either player is traded.
In video games, it’s easy to move players as though they are pieces, but on a team where these two players are so incredibly important to both the fanbase, the community and their teammates, it would be devastating.
Especially Brady because he’s become the hero that we needed. Every single player asked talks about how much of a pain he is to play against, and by extension the team. Every broadcast team for the opposition on any given night go on and on about Brady and his leadership, how much a pain he is, and how he drags the team into battle.
Now, he always explains that it’s a leadership group and that every player in the locker room brings their own piece of the puzzle. In one interview when asked about who was the funniest teammate, he still wouldn’t isolate anyone for higher praise. Lots of funny guys, everyone has their moments, it not just me leading, everyone has their moments… The humility doesn’t go unnoticed by the guys in the room. The young man is already legend in the league, and by signing his long term deal along with Chabot, they saved the fanbase from the seemingly endless bitterness and frustration, and gave us hope that this time things will be different.
So far so good.
Between the core pillars of Chabot and Brady, it’s Dorion’s ‘we are team’. That joke is finally on us.
