On the surface it seems like just another hockey cliche.
"He was the right fit"
"The player fit in well with the culture."
"We are looking for the right fit."
But is really as cliche as it seems? Is it as cliche as "He's so clutch" or he is a "Big-game player." In the years of experience around the game, it is in no way a cliche that should be taken lightly.
The right fit is really just as important as any other aspect of a hockey team like skill or production. While we see examples of this almost every offseason, and even during the season, it often goes overlooked in explaining it in a different way.
The latest episode of "The right fit" involves Phil Kessel and his fallout with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It can be explained through various analytics, eye tests, and what have you when it comes to pointing out why Kessel did not work in Toronto. Was it his poor possession numbers? Was it his lack of big game presence or big goals? Or was it all around, simply, that he was not the right fit?
It happens on multiple levels. Maybe the player was the right guy but did not fit in with the team or the atmosphere. Maybe the atmosphere was fine but the player did not fit in or thrive with the team scheme. It is, 100-percent, why you can not rely solely on even eye-tests or statistics in some regard. There will always be an element of underlying, behind closed doors, sort of information that the general public never knows and never will know. Yea, sure, we get blurbs in different publications like Ex-Leaf Colby Armstrong saying Kessel is "Frustrating to play with", and did not go the extra mile in winning battles. In the same vein there are positive spins on the talented 27-year old from his ex-teammates.
In the end, Kessel was simply not the right fit with Toronto. That is not to say anything negative about Phil Kessel at all. It may just have been that he was not the right player in the right situation. The team scheme may not have been cohesive with his game. The media may have definitely played a part in the whole "fit" equation. He is noted in one of the previously linked articles as being uncomfortable speaking to large groups and did not like being in the spotlight. Given everything that Toronto is as a rabid hockey market, it is understandable that when it came to being the proverbial face of the franchise, Kessel was not the right fit. That is not his fault, that is not Toronto's fault, it is what it is. Unfortunately, he is being pretty heavily bashed for being asked to be something he is not. The Toronto media is also being bashed in the same regard as not being a more low-key and less invasive media market. They can not control that. Thus, here we are. Somewhere in the middle, reading twitter and reading differing opinions that are speculating about what really was the problem with Phil Kessel and the Leafs.
To bring a Kings spin to all of this, you cannot find an article discussing Dean Lombardi and a Kings trade without finding the word "Fit" or "Culture" in some regard. The same can be said for all the great Dean Lombardi colloquialisms about the "LA Kings tattoo" around not just the hockey team, but around the entire organization from top to bottom.
Think we are joking?
Check out this article from Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty from September of last year which goes into detail about said subjects. A few solid quotes:
“We’ve kind of created a culture here, as an organization, and now, it’s trickled down to the players, which is, ultimately, what you want,… said forward and captain Dustin Brown. “We have a certain way we do things. The best way to put it is [to look at] the evolution of the team. Four or five years ago, the coach, GM and [ownership] were trying to push us in the right direction. But now, the players are pushing each other and holding ownership to more of what we want to do, as a team.…
“I don’t know what it was like before I got here, but that was the first meeting Dean, Greener and I had here,… said Stoll. “The main word was, ‘culture.’ It has to change. There has to be a different attitude around here—that we want to win, and not just get into the playoffs, but win playoff series.…
Nevertheless, as this series has shown, Lombardi laid out a plan to build the Kings into a perennial Stanley Cup contender that has been unbelievably successful, and he exerted the necessary influence to get his players to buy into his plan and build the team culture that is so apparent today. That culture is so strong that the players own it. They are in control of the dressing room, not Lombardi. As such, Lombardi was right when he said, “…it ain’t me,… as the players now handle the leadership responsibilities on their own—they are now the ones building and strengthening the team culture.
As part of their season preview content, PuckDaddy did an article about Kings VP of hockey operations, Mike Futa, and the Kings culture. Check it out right here.
As John Hoven of Mayor's Manor points out, Lombardi has preached this sort of stuff since he got here. In his opening article about a certain Kings player who actually DID get the logo tattooed on himself, he said this:
Since joining the team in April 2006, GM Dean Lombardi has given the ‘I want players who are willing to get the Kings logo tattooed on their butt’ speech dozens of times. It’s a passionate plea, where he states that in order to build the culture he desires and create a winning team – similar to what the Red Wings have had for decades – that’s the level of commitment he’s looking for.
That is why when things like Jarret Stoll or Mike Richards happen around the team it is a.....culture shock.
From Helene Elliot of the Los Angeles times article on the fallout of the Stoll arrest,
At the very worst, the Kings have a hole at the heart of the we-are-family culture they've meticulously crafted since Dean Lombardi became their general manager in 2006 and vowed to change the shortsighted thinking and defeatist attitude that had spawned decades of futility. Lombardi, who often spoke about placing as much importance on players' character as on their skills, exceeded the wildest dreams of even the truest believers when the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and again in 2014 and reached the Western Conference finals in between.
Culture, culture, culture.
There is a certain element of "Fitting in" that has gone into every single Dean Lombardi trade. With the Gaborik trade, Lombardi and crew did their research
"His marks as a person were first class," Lombardi said.Gaborik fit in from Day 1, on and off the ice.
He wasn't selfish. He studied and worked hard to learn how to play L.A.'s way, recalling the defensive principles that he learned as a young player with the Minnesota Wild under coach Jacques Lemaire. He embraced life away from the rink in Southern California. He became part of the Kings' community.
You could find similar things said about fitting in when it comes to Williams when he was traded to the Kings, and most recently about Milan Lucic.
Some players thrive under different systems, others falter. At this level almost every player is worth their salt and is a good hockey player. Where they find success depends a lot on how they fit in with a team, a city, and a locker room. It works across the board as well from players to coaches to scouts and to even the guy who writes tweets on the LA Kings twitter account. Culture matters. Fitting in matters. You can not always explain the difficulties of a high profile player like Phil Kessel or a young and burgeoning young talent like Andrei Loktionov with statistics. That is one thing Los Angeles has always had: An identifiable culture. They are being challenged currently in keeping it intact with some player turnover. In the end they have been one of the more cohesive team in the NHL in creating a sense and brand about them and their style of hockey, and you have to tip your hat to the management group of the Kings in doing so.
When it comes to evaluating the team, the prospect pool, and the various moves around the organization, culture and fit almost always have to be considered as heavily as anything else. The breakdown does not always have to come on the ice. It can come off of it just as easily.
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