It's an interesting situation. What's the solution to organizations with bad cultures. Can players that are good leaders actually make that fix internally or is the problem usually bigger than what the players can fix. Clearly O'Reilly is a good leader here, was the situation just that bad for him to have good influence over there? Were we like that at times in the past?
I think the culture of sports organizations is one of the more fascinating aspects. It really goes to show that winning goes way beyond just having talented players. Coaching, front office, ownership, alumni, fans, they all play a huge part.
I’ve actually been thinking about the Blues’ culture a lot lately and how lucky we are. I know we all complained a lot during the Cup drought, but the Blues have always been a consistently competitive team that makes the playoffs 90% of the time since they entered the league. This really can’t be overlooked.
I think there’s a few reasons for this too. Obviously you need the right personnel in place including GM, coach, etc. But the Blues have such a strong passionate fanbase and alumni group that demand hard work. When you put on the Blue Note, you don’t want to disappoint the guys like Plager, Federko, MacInnis, Jackman and others that put their heart and soul into the team and are still there - watching you every single game. They are still a huge part of the organization and that trickles down to current players. They see those guys around, they see the pictures on the wall, they know they have a lot to live up to.
We all know STL loves their gritty, scrappy players. That’s been true for both baseball and hockey. Buffalo took O’Reilly for granted. In St. Louis, he has been welcomed with open arms and adored because of what he brings to the team. If you work hard and battle your ass off and play the game like O’Reilly does, like Sundqvist does, Schwartz, etc. You will be loved here. If you don’t and the fanbase thinks you’re out there floating, you won’t last long. You will be run out of town.
Look at what happened last year when the team was playing nowhere near expectations:
1. Armstrong basically threatened to blow it all up.
2. Tarasenko apologized to the fans and vented about how unacceptable it was.
3. A fight in practice happened.
Everyone was pissed. And things turned around. Of course with the help of Berube and Binnington coming in but this all played a part.
This organization may have taken a long time to win a Cup, but they still have a winning culture. Losing is just simply not tolerated. Obviously I don’t have as much in-depth knowledge of everything that goes on in other organizations, but from afar, it seems like Buffalo’s attitude is “woe is me”. They feel sorry for themselves. But aside from what Eichel said I’m not seeing a ton of passion that they are truly dedicated to changing anything.
