MaxR11
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Ken Hitchcock feeling sobering reality with Oilers' situation - Sportsnet.ca
It is bigger than he thought. It is bigger than all of them thought.
The culture is broken, and even the third winningest coach in NHL history can’t seem to repair it.
...they sashayed out on a Saturday night and played like they were on the ODR, cold beers stacked in the snow.
“At the end of the day we have to decide if we want to play the right way because it’s successful, or we just want to do our thing. Today was a game where we just wanted to do our thing,” he said. “To me, it’s priorities and what’s important. On the fifth goal: We just turned it over in the neutral zone and went dribbling to the bench. Just walked to the bench and changed. It can’t be acceptable.”
It has been going on here for years, however, a sure sign that the culture is rotten.
It goes right back to the days of Hall and Ebs and Gagner and Gilbert. No one knows how to win, because no one has been taught what it takes. There is no institutional knowledge on things like compete and character. It does not exist, missing the playoffs for 11 of the past 12 years.
“When you put skill ahead of work you get burned, and there’s just too much of that going on,” he said. “We address it all the time,
Yes, it’s not a strong roster. But it’s the good players who lack structure just as much as the rest. An example:
With the score 1-0 for San Jose in the first period, Edmonton’s second best player, Leon Draisaitl, blindly turned a puck over in the offensive zone. Most times, the guy who turns the puck over checks the hardest. But Draisiaitl cruised back through the neutral zone, stopped skating at about centre ice, and watched as his guy (Evander Kane) blazed past, went in on net, took a pass and scored from the doorstep while completely unchecked.
It was flagrant nonchalance at a key point in the game by one of your best players. We asked Hitchcock afterwards: Is it worse when a leader makes a play like that?
“That’s a good question,” he mused, buying time to chose his words on a question that clearly struck home. “I think it’s a symptom of something much bigger. It’s priorities and what’s important. It just can’t be acceptable.
“At this time of year the coaches can’t want it more than the players.”
It is bigger than he thought. It is bigger than all of them thought.
The culture is broken, and even the third winningest coach in NHL history can’t seem to repair it.
...they sashayed out on a Saturday night and played like they were on the ODR, cold beers stacked in the snow.
“At the end of the day we have to decide if we want to play the right way because it’s successful, or we just want to do our thing. Today was a game where we just wanted to do our thing,” he said. “To me, it’s priorities and what’s important. On the fifth goal: We just turned it over in the neutral zone and went dribbling to the bench. Just walked to the bench and changed. It can’t be acceptable.”
It has been going on here for years, however, a sure sign that the culture is rotten.
It goes right back to the days of Hall and Ebs and Gagner and Gilbert. No one knows how to win, because no one has been taught what it takes. There is no institutional knowledge on things like compete and character. It does not exist, missing the playoffs for 11 of the past 12 years.
“When you put skill ahead of work you get burned, and there’s just too much of that going on,” he said. “We address it all the time,
Yes, it’s not a strong roster. But it’s the good players who lack structure just as much as the rest. An example:
With the score 1-0 for San Jose in the first period, Edmonton’s second best player, Leon Draisaitl, blindly turned a puck over in the offensive zone. Most times, the guy who turns the puck over checks the hardest. But Draisiaitl cruised back through the neutral zone, stopped skating at about centre ice, and watched as his guy (Evander Kane) blazed past, went in on net, took a pass and scored from the doorstep while completely unchecked.
It was flagrant nonchalance at a key point in the game by one of your best players. We asked Hitchcock afterwards: Is it worse when a leader makes a play like that?
“That’s a good question,” he mused, buying time to chose his words on a question that clearly struck home. “I think it’s a symptom of something much bigger. It’s priorities and what’s important. It just can’t be acceptable.
“At this time of year the coaches can’t want it more than the players.”