Team needs to develop culture of accountability summed up well by Jordan Nolan

[Der Jaeger]

How about instead of trading for toxic assets who captained a criminal locker room that got their whole management team canned we add actual good players?

Right. Brown condoned Voynov's domestic violence, Stoll taking drugs on his off time, and the train wreck which was Richards. He was also at the core of getting Sutter canned. Good stuff.

 

[Chainshot]

How about instead of trading for toxic assets who captained a criminal locker room that got their whole management team canned we add actual good players?

Yeah, I'm not sold on Brown as an option at all and it isn't the contract.

 

[joshjull]

Because I think every professional locker room will eventually be reduced to chaos and the only governor is team success. Our culture sucks largely because we aren't winning, not the other way around.

Eichel and O'Reilly aren't good enough to win the most difficult minutes available to the team, and there isn't the talent elsewhere on the roster to win in the space that setup creates. We assumed this going into the first season of this core and it's been confirmed through two coaches. Either add talent or hire a coach who understands his only option is wringing every bit of success out of the top two centers.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've never played competitive team sports. Because you're complete dismissal of lockerrom culture is bizarre.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

There is a lot made of effort in WNY, as though looking like one is working hard means one is effective/good/worthwhile vs. doing what is right to actually be good, particularly at hockey. Churning knees and pumping elbows is all fine and well and good, but how is taking longer shifts buying into team concepts? How is winging low-quality shots at the net buying into a team concepts (granted, I'm not sure what they're trying to implement for forecheck on line changes, but anyway...)? Partying and having a good time off the ice is fine, if a guy shows up to put in the work to actually do what is required to win.

He's a selfish me-first hockey player who leads the team in scoring. That doesn't mean Phil, that he's indispensable however.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Yeah, I'm not sold on Brown as an option at all and it isn't the contract.

Brown is a cheap player - and I'm not talking about his contract. Kind of a slightly more talented Steve Ott IMO. We don't need that here (again).......

 

[slip]

Players pointing fingers and calling each other out, partly because our coach is too much of a p***y to point fingers and call out bad play.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Brown is a cheap player - and I'm not talking about his contract. Kind of a slightly more talented Steve Ott IMO. We don't need that here (again).......

Well, except that he captained two Cup winning teams.

 

[slip]

Brown is a cheap player - and I'm not talking about his contract. Kind of a slightly more talented Steve Ott IMO. We don't need that here (again).......

And you cannot ignore that contract. It's awful.

 

[MrMaster]

Stop talking and start delivering, you f***ing losers!

 

[Der Jaeger]

Short term and in house answer:

- Give Pominville the C
- Take the A from Eichel
- Trade Kane

 

[darcyRegier]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Eichel go after McDavid right after puck drop.

Him shedding the mitts with Connor would really show that he wants more respect from the locker room...

 

[joshjull]

Players pointing fingers and calling each other out, partly because our coach is too much of a ***** to point fingers and call out bad play.

More like guys who have been on winning teams/in winning lockerrooms see an issue that needs to be addressed by the players (Scandella, Nolan and Pommer). They are pointing it out and I'm sure it was done in the players only meeting before the press came in. So I doubt any players were surprised by what was said in the press. I'm not telling you to like Housley, hate away, but on this I don't see him as an issue. Only the players (or GM) can address and fix this specific issue

 

[MrMaster]

in a nutshell:

 

[Vito_81]

So in typical Sabre fashion, they need to go find someone from another team to wear letters while the players assembled from within don't rise to the occasion? This is Rivet/Ott/Gionta all over again. They've been playing this song on repeat for almost 10 years.

They haven't had a true Captain since 1999.

Co-Caps worked out well for two seasons. Other than that, it's been a disaster for almost 20 years.

 

[slip]

More like guys who have been on winning teams and in winning lockerrooms that have been brought in see an issue that needs to be addressed by the players (Scandella, Nolan and Pommer). They are pointing it out and I'm sure it was done in the players only meeting before the press came in as well. So I doubt any players were surprised by what was said in the press. I'm not telling you to like Housley, hate away, but on this I don't see him as an issue. Only the players (or GM) can address and fix this specific issue

Hate is a powerful word. The guy is inexperienced, and soft. Two things this locker room does not need.

 

[thewookie1]

Brown's contract certainly gives me pause, but with some retention he'd certainly bring a vet presence to the team. And I doubt he'd be all that expensive.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've never played competitive team sports. Because you're complete dismissal of lockerrom culture is bizarre.

You're getting really one-note with the never played the game stuff, and you'd be wrong.

We were never going to win hockey games under either Bylsma or Housley's deployment structures unless Eichel and O'Reilly were super deluxe awesome. They aren't, we haven't.

Whatever our team culture is, it's less impactful than:

- Being several NHL skaters short of a full lineup on a nightly basis
- Playing what talent we have in high leverage, low return situations
- Employing systems whose biggest beneficiaries are Cody Franson and Zach Bogosian

Letting giant structural problems drag on the roster for years while progressively shifting blame to top talent is how bad culture festers.

 

[joshjull]

Hate is a powerful word. The guy is inexperienced, and soft. Two things this locker room does not need.

Ok hate is too strong, I'm juts trying to say that if don't like him as a coach thats fine. I'm not telling you to like him. But he isn't the issue on this specific topic. Its the players in the room.

 

[Duddy]

Short term and in house answer:

- Give Pominville the C
- Take the A from Eichel
- Trade Kane

So we give the C to the most passiv guy and we piss off Eichel?
You can't strip it off Eichel and leave it on the others. That's just bad, considering the other are just as bad.

What great set of moves.

 

[Sabreality]

why would LA trade Brown? he's been a key factor in their resurgence and is a well respected vet, they arent goin to rock that boat because of contract stuff

 

[explore]

Short term and in house answer:

- Give Pominville the C
- Take the A from Eichel
- Trade Kane

LOL you want to give the C to the same guy who was on the team when Miller got run over? The guy who was the captain when the team was heartless and gutless, that necessitated the tear down in the first place?

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

Right. Brown condoned Voynov's domestic violence, Stoll taking drugs on his off time, and the train wreck which was Richards. He was also at the core of getting Sutter canned. Good stuff.

A+ reading comprehension.

Brown's cultural impact meant exactly dick when the Kings suddenly found themselves with worse skaters, and the breakup was ugly. He's not a good player anymore, and not having good players is currently a bigger issue than the locker room.

Also, how did I become the "culture doesn't matter" guy when I've repeatedly criticized the decision not to name a captain. Adding further pressure when we're already asking our top six to be a combination of Bergeron and Crosby remains bad.

 

[Duddy]

The only culture change we need is winning. Everything else will get sorted out.

Bringing in trash overpaid character guys is not what we need, get some skill up front and on defense. That will change the 'culture'.

 

[SabresFan26]

You're getting really one-note with the never played the game stuff, and you'd be wrong.

We were never going to win hockey games under either Bylsma or Housley's deployment structures unless Eichel and O'Reilly were super deluxe awesome. They aren't, we haven't.

Whatever our team culture is, it's less impactful than:

- Being several NHL skaters short of a full lineup on a nightly basis
- Playing what talent we have in high leverage, low return situations
- Employing systems whose biggest beneficiaries are Cody Franson and Zach Bogosian

Letting giant structural problems drag on the roster for years while progressively shifting blame to top talent is how bad culture festers.

You couldn’t be more incorrect. Business and sports are similar in that it starts with culture.
Joshjull has been pretty accurate throughout this thread. Even systems are a part of culture. Maybe the players don’t play the system Housley wants.

 

[SabresFan26]

The only culture change we need is winning. Everything else will get sorted out.

Bringing in trash overpaid character guys is not what we need, get some skill up front and on defense. That will change the 'culture'.

Wrong.
You can have a ton of talent but underperform because of a bad cultures and egos.