I don’t know how to explain it. If somebody knew, they should step up and help them, but they haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe it’s just the kids. They have to step up and lead the team to the playoffs. They’ve been there for a long time and it’s their time, you know. They can’t only blame older guys or change their fourth line. They’ve got to start leading the team to the playoffs. Be leaders. That’s probably the one thing. But they are all great guys and I had a great time and hopefully they will turn it around and get into the playoffs. People deserve it there, you know. It’s a hockey city. People love their hockey and it’s painful.
That is Ales Hemsky via Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. That’s the quote that everybody will be talking about here in Oilerville. What can we pars from this? What is he saying here? There are three different parts to this that I want to look at.
1) I don’t know how to explain it. If somebody knew, they should step up and help them, but they haven’t figured it out yet.
What I’m getting from this is “I wish we knew what was wrong.… This paints the inside of that locker room as being not altogether that different from the living rooms of the fans in that nobody seems to have the answer as to how to fix this team. Whether you’re a professional hockey player, coach, or beer swizzling fan your guess is as good as anybody else’s.
It might also speak to the fact that the Oilers have changed Coaches and coaching philosophies annually to the same results. Every year the team tries something new and it’s never the answer. Was it Quinn? Nope. Renney? Nope. Equipment Managers? Nope. The wrong motivational posters? Nope. This team is grasping at straws now.
2) Maybe it’s just the kids. They have to step up and lead the team to the playoffs. They’ve been there for a long time and it’s their time, you know.
Reading and re-reading this part of the quote brings me to a couple of conclusions. Firstly, Ales Hemsky said this as nicely as possible. He doesn’t sound like a guy with an axe to grind about having lost ice time to the kids. Some people might believe that is the case, but this review of the kids could be about a thousand times more scathing than it is if Hemsky wanted to pour gasoline onto this tire-fire of a team.
Secondly, what he is saying here is that the young Oilers (Hall, RNH, and Eberle) need to stop coming up with excuses and get things done. Hemsky should know a thing or two about shouldering the load of the team, he did it for years by himself. MacTavish wants a team full of drivers and Ales has all but said these guys have been passengers too often. This IS Taylor Hall’s team. This IS Jordan Eberle’s team. If they want it to win then they need to put the team on their backs and make it happen. We should be seeing so much quit from these guys on a continual basis.
3) They can’t only blame older guys or change their fourth line. They’ve got to start leading the team to the playoffs. Be leaders. That’s probably the one thing.
Hemsky here suggests the divide in the locker room wasn’t created by the older players but by the younger ones. Hemsky kind of fit into a middle age bracket for the team but he’s a vet who’s been in the league a long time so we can assume he probably leaned towards the older group. That said, this isn’t totally out of line with things said by the likes of Whitney and others who departed from the team.
The blame game is a telltale sign of a working culture gone bad. I don’t care if you’re talking about an NHL Dressing Room or a 9-5 Office setting, if the people you depend on to make things happen have resorted to placing blame on others, there’s a problem.
Leadership is a tricky issue. Is it something you give to a player (or group of players) when they’re ready? Is anybody ever really ready before they get the C? I’m not sure, but if the Oilers want these guys to lead then it’s time to force them into it, ready or not. If Hall and company think others have messed up directing this team then it’s time for them to nut up and do it themselves.
Whether you agree with everything that Hemsky said or not there’s at least one thing that I think we can all agree on. The people of this city love their hockey and for years it has been too painful being a fan of the Oilers.
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