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Earning Respect from your Teammates Depends on Sacrifice

January 18, 2012, 10:36 AM ET [5578 Comments]
Habs Talk
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Picked up Theoren Fleury's book Playing with Fire and ripped through half of it last night.

Mixed in with his life story--a turbulent, sad, inspiring and insightful tale--was a window into the life of an emerging, untapped, enthusiastic talent infiltrating a veteran-laden locker room, and what it meant to gain respect at that level.

Fleury, a fearless spark-plug, emerged on a Calgary Flames team that was destined for the Stanley Cup, and his entry on the scene was hardly well-received by those that had spent the year establishing the chemistry that had the Flames soaring atop the league standings.

Fleury makes note of the fact that players now can only be recalled from the farm if there are injuries on the NHL roster.

Naturally, emerging on a Stanley Cup-worthy team just to provide a kick in the behind to those settling in with complacency was enough cause for friction. Regardless of whether or not that part's changed, the dynamics of young, hungry, unproven talent coming in to claim a spot on a team that depends on veterans as star-talents is a major challenge.

On the heels of Jacques Martin's interview with the guys on L'Antichambre last night, it was revealed that P.K. Subban comes across as a selfish player who's commitment to the team is questionable at best. Ironic that these comments were flying as I was reading about Fleury's struggle to break into the NHL.

Back to Fleury's story, he sat down in the Flames room ahead of his first NHL game, and received a "What the F are you doing here," from big Al MaCinnis. Hardly a "Don't worry kid, everything will be fine out there.".

After racking up five points in his first three games, Fleury had made a clear statement that he was worthy of a spot in the NHL. Winning over his teammates wasn't as simple as putting the puck in the net.

He rushed to the defense of a teammate who got caught with two bullies on the ice, and naturally, Fleury ended up squared off with a player that was far bigger than he was (didn't take much to meet those requirements), and after getting planted, the guys in Calgary seemed to appreciate what he could contribute to the team.

The anecdote is from over 20-years ago. It's meaning still has relevance in NHL locker rooms today.

Subban is part of a team, and while his development, as a story, is as compelling as any other we follow in the National Hockey League, Fleury's anecdote really brings the Canadiens' situation into focus.

When the team traded for Scott Gomez, and then signed Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill in a period of 48 hours that had the entire Canadiens roster overhauled, it was pretty clear what kind of team Jacques Martin was going to be coaching.

Every important role on the team was filled by a veteran.

And because they had all been around for long enough, because a lot of them had Stanley Cup experience, they dealt easily with the 'us against the world' mentality they'd needed to adopt in order to win.

After all, they were shellacked together in a weekend, and they were picking up the pieces of the most devastating season in Canadiens' history.

The one seemingly entitled entity on the team was Carey Price. And that team of wile veterans didn't want to play for him. They played for another kid who took every tough shot in practice and stuck around for more so guys could work on their games.

And when it came time for Halak to take over for the struggling, young, franchise goaltender Price, he shut up, shut the door, and gave all the credit to the guys sacrificing in front of him.

Price learned a valuable lesson that season, and he ultimately prevailed in winning over his teammates by accepting that Halak had buried him into a back-up position and that the only way back to the top was to work, and overwork.

So Price picked up his shovel and dug in, and he stopped shrugging his shoulders and giving icey stares to veteran defensemen in front of him after bad goals. And the hit he took to his personal pride, and his acceptance of it, had him win over those veterans, who were willing to give him credit for his attitude and maturity while he rode the pine watching Halak steal his thunder.

Let's look at the composition of this year's team:

Same veterans, but who's been largely expected to carry the torch here?

With no Andrei Markov, and no Roman Hamrlik, and no Jaroslav Spacek, P.K. Subban was expected to play the most prominent role on the blue line.

Subban's immaturity, his struggles, and his conflict over being the player he knew he could be and being the player the Canadiens wanted him to be has been on display all season long.

And Subban's struggles also meant a more prominent role for Raphael Diaz, another young player.

Up front, injuries to Gomez and Cammalleri, and Pierre Gauthier's off-season decision to enable Lars Eller and David Desharnais to fill roles on the top-3 lines has shifted the balance of power in the dressing room.

Did Cammalleri enjoy watching Pacioretty and the boys step on as the first powerplay unit?

Has Tomas Plekanec enjoyed killing penalties and breaking his neck in the defensive zone while Desharnais enjoys the glory of a safer match-up, the team's two biggest wingers, and the offensive liberty he's afforded by the situation?

Scott Gomez has been a joke since the great playoff run of 2010, but surely he's got a bit more motivation at 14+ minutes watching Michael Blunden play 17+.

Martin was mercilessly ripped by the fanbase for riding his veterans and banishing Subban and Eller to the pressbox, or stapling them to the bench at the onset of any single mistake. But Martin kept his money players happy, and they rewarded him with a trip to the Conference Finals, and a near brilliant dismantling of a Boston Bruins Stanley Cup-winning team.

Even last year, as the injuries piled on, the Canadiens weren't looking for their young players to step in, they went and acquired Sopel, Mara and Wisniewski.

This season, Martin was forced to rely more on some of the young players mentioned above: Subban, Eller, Desharnais, Pacioretty.

Had he lost the room?

Absolutely not. Not according to him, not according to the players, and not according to anyone else who knew well enough.

But the players clearly lost each other. Stuck in the paradigm Martin had created, the veterans took bitterly to culture of the room. The young players were caught between a rock and a hard place, and now everyone's stuck trying to pick up the pieces together.

The problem with Subban has less to do with him than it does with everyone around him. But the Canadiens aren't going to enjoy some massive leadership-overhaul.

To a degree, one gets the sense that Subban's fed up with having to curtail his enthusiasm and want for a star-role in the NHL so as not to upstage anyone in the room, and in his defiance, he's made a lot of people believe he's selfish.

To a degree, Subban has to find a way to win over his teammates like Fleury did, sacrificing more of himself for the cause veterans are getting blamed for on a daily basis.

He'll find that balance, and continue on his navigation of how difficult it is to earn respect in this league.

As for the Canadiens, more changes are imminent, and this situation doesn't change unless the veteran leadership group is added to or detracted from. Until the young players are officially handed the reigns, and they're prepared to do the heavy lifting an indoctrinate their younger peers as time goes along.

Finally, read this piece by Bobby Holik. Outside of the respect Subban and his young teammates must earn from opponents, his teammates and any guy who's ever laced 'em up in an NHL game, the management team in Montreal should seriously consider how to nurture him and get the very best out of him.

Holik has the answer. Do the Canadiens?
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