You have to identify before you can have an identity.
It's game day for the Winnipeg Jets as they play guest tonight in Cowtown tonight and fans are looking for continued results from the coaching change which brought Paul Maurice to Winnipeg. The part of Maurice's arrival that fans and media alike are now focussing on is the what the new coach is saying. There is a one game of results and everyone, including Maurice, is putting that on emotion and not a lot more.
The quotes are telling if you think about how he and Chevy had to work to an understanding after the Tampa Bay game last Tuesday to the aftermath of the Columbus game last Saturday. I think it's safe to say that Maurice was not brought in an effort to simply change the coach, he was given a mandate one that he and Kevin Cheveldayoff come to an agreed understanding about.
"We've got to get to the point that we understand the game we're going to play before the puck drops." That's Maurice describing what he wants to achieve for this team in terms of preparation. Translation: know your identity.
"It’s setting a standard, which is what we’re going to do." This is Maurice referring to the level of play and consistency the Jets need to reach. Translation: be your identity
In the three seasons that the Winnipeg Jets have been in the league this team has had no identity, no touchpoint to draw on where the players can look at and draw strength from by saying 'this is what being a Winnipeg Jet is'. That is something which must have been at the top when Chevy contacted Maurice about dealing with long list of Jets problems.
The coach is making his impact felt because the players are responding too. Whether it be by collective feeling and mood, quotes, or play there is a change, or perhaps an awakening. One can pontificate about theories and ideas as to what is happening within the Winnipeg Jets team considering where they were, why they were there and compare it to some very short term observations of change- it won't matter much.
This team has to move forward and not look at changing the past. That's the challenge with change in any environment... letting go of the past and changing for the future. Right now the Jets have a chance to shape their future and determine it all under the guise of a coach who thinks he knows where it should be. That combination did not work for this roster and Claude Noel- they could not change their stripes with or against each other.
The right things are being said by the players, the extra effort is being seen in practice and the coach is giving everyone something new to talk about. For that we should all be thankful, as stale as the Jets play was during the final weeks of Claude Noel the commentary on it was just as bland. This change is welcome by all but what will we be talking about in a week, a month at season's end?
That's the kicker. Can this change really happen with the result being an identity that media and fans say 'that's Winnipeg Jets hockey!'? Maurice has a simple vision and goal "The biggest thing we can do is get that pace up. Make sure we’re competing and make sure we respond after winning a game".
Short-term goals.
Close range focus.
Simple change.
To achieve that he has to make and not sell, but demand some little but very meaningful things from the players. So far so good and if it stays that way the long-term trend could and should look different.
There's the biggest difference, we know what Maurice is working on instead of just hearing 'we're going to go back and work on it' as the refrain from Noel came again and again. This time even the problems and potential solutions have an identity and that could be the biggest difference between the two coaches.