Random Thoughts
--I haven't blogged in a LONG time (busy with work), but to get back in the flow, some bullet points seemed in order. Especially given the fun and excitement and energy the NHL trade deadline provides.
--In a few recent games, the Penguins have developed what might be charitably called "bad habits." I might call these habits "dangerous." I'd also call them deadly poison to any hopes of a long post season run. Among things a team that fancies itself a Cup contender shouldn't do in the playoffs:
-Relinquish two goal leads.
-Relinquish three goal leads.
-Rely on your goaltender to save 50 out of 52 shots (no, I don't care how bad the shots were, that's just way too many shots to make your goalie stop).
-Take careless penalties.
-Take mental breaks or vacations for periods of time throughout games.
The Penguins would be advised to stop these bad habits immediately in order to prepare for the postseason. I might like to swat them with a rolled up paper of last year's playoff box scores and say, "Don't!" But, whatever works. Just stop the bad habits and keep winning.
--Fans who read through the above list and take a peek at the standings will no doubt note that the Pens managed to earn points in every game in which they kept doing foolhardy things like falling asleep and relinquishing leads and experiencing mental lapses of varying severity. As much fun as it is to watch a team that's often good enough to win on talent alone, it's also scary. And yeah, sometimes it's scary good. But more often, it's scary bad...scary bad because...you're doing that now...but, in a 7 game series...well, really...Maybe one game you pull that off? But four in seven? You really think that's going to fly? Really?
--I have been spoiled for most of my life as a hockey fan. I was a kid when Mario Lemieux was in his prime. I was a teenager when Jaromir Jagr was in his prime. I got to watch the best player in the world, supplanted by the best player in the world...and now I get to watch 2 of the best players in the world on my same team, yet again? It's almost too good to be true (mind you, I am not asking the fairy tale aspects of my hockey team end any time soon, as I surely appreciate what I get to witness). But Evgeni Malkin has been phenomenal to watch...and how awesome is it that when one of the best players in the world is out of my team's lineup, my team has a replacement who can play at the same otherworldly level? (That's a rhetorical question, but wow....yeah, all I can say is, of course I'm spoiled, and I absolutely love being spoiled.)
--Reading over deadline day deals, it occurred to me that the "new" NHL has changed the landscape. A lot. Players have the opportunity to make a lot more money a lot more quickly than they did in the "old" NHL. While I'm sure this is a topic that will be worthy of further consideration (though preferably minus hand wringing over whatever my Penguins will do with "so much" young talent--I just plan to appreciate it for as long as my team has it, and I advise all hockey fans to do the same), right now I'm just wondering about it in terms of "going for the Cup." In the past, younger, more inexperienced players weren't necessarily expected to be the core players on Cup contenders, and if they were, they were typically extremely talented and supplanted by savvy veterans in significant supporting roles. And yet, with the structure of the new NHL, I'm wondering: How much faster are younger players going to be expected to be THE players? And how much does that have to do with how the game has changed to favor speed and skill? In any case, it's food for future thought. Or another blog post.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Is Chemistry a Concern?
Nope.
What About Reality?
Hmm...
Welcome to Reality
Among the most interesting reactions to the Hossa trade today was the concern for the "chemistry" of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because, as Pittsburgh fans well know, Colby Armstrong is a hilarious guy, and Erik Christiansen seemed to be another well-liked member of the team. And, really, these guys were close-knit; how else do you explain them winning like crazy sans the league's reigning MVP and scoring champion (I'd contend they're winning due to having an "understudy" who can also play the game at the same rarefied scoring champ/MVP level, but that's a whole other tangent for another blog post, so I'll stop digressing for the moment)?
However, chemistry is not the issue. Not in the short-term and not in the long-term. You say, "Say what" Because, even those who love the trade and are excited about a genuine top flight winger for the first line can at least admit that chemistry, on some level, however minor or major, matters.
To which I say: Nope. Not for this group of Penguins. Chemistry isn't the issue. Reality, however, is, and reality, in this case, means growing up--but not in the ways we've come to think of players "maturing."
The young Penguins were hit smack-dab with reality today. With the reality of the NHL where your friends and teammates get traded, and it's part of the game...part of the business. Where a guy who helped you win games, with whom you hung out playing all kinds of crazy tricks, with whom you came up, is no longer part of your team's future. No longer someone who will be there when you (if you're lucky enough to) lift the Cup.
On some level, all hockey players get this aspect of the game, even relatively "young" ones--trades happen in the major junior leagues, and players leave teams at lower levels than the NHL. It happens.
Yet in the short and long-term, chemistry's just the wrong word for what concerns this group of still young, still otherworldly talented Penguins. Reality hit home today, and you could see the shell-shock of that reality check in much of the game against the Islanders (a game which the Penguins somehow won despite being outshot by a ridiculous margin, something which they need to stop making a habit of if they hope to advance in the postseason, and yet again, I'm going to have to stop digressing). The short-term shock of, "Oh, it's not a joke...friends and teammates and good players really do get traded, and it happens to OUR team." And while the Pens are all professionals, for some of the kids, it could be the first time they're experiencing such a feeling in the NHL.
Which brings me to a long-term concern about reality as it pertains to the kids who, as Shero's move today and ownership's approval of the move signifies, are no longer regarded as kids for whom the future is at some nebulous point in the distance but in the present. Today there was a lot of discussion about the salary cap and the business of resigning or not resigning Hossa, being able to sign our other young players as their entry level deals expire, if Hossa was a rental, etc.
But here's my reality question: I knew trades like today's would happen (though, of course, I was completely taken aback by this trade) eventually. Yet, I also know what happens when trades like these happen. Because I've seen it happen in the 20 plus years I've been a hockey fan. Young players learn the "rules of the game" and learn that the rules of the game are really the rules of the business. They learn to accept player trades as something that occurs, they learn no team stays together forever, and they learn--on an individual level--how to look out for themselves in the business.
My concern about future reality isn't to be cynical and jaded and to say that the current crop of young Pittsburgh hockey stars isn't going to want to remain in Pittsburgh. But it is to say that when reality crashes home, as the rules of the business are learned by the kids, the kids don't just grow up on the ice. They grow up off the ice, too. And some may be about the business of winning Stanley Cups, or of establishing them as a key cog on a Stanley Cup contender, or of making as much money as possible...(and I don't know who's about what, and I'm not trying to insinuate that I do, or make any erroneous assumptions about any player, and that's actually not a digression). But the bottom line is: For the youthful Penguins players, reality changed today. Reality changed in the form of a GM saying:
Your time is now...and, oh yes, in addition to your time being now, this form of reality (your friends and teammates being traded) is part of that reality.
Welcome to the grown-up world of reality, young Pittsburgh Penguins.
And as for us concerned fans? May as well just enjoy the whirlwind that comes from watching children grow up--and note that whirlwind will span the gamut from great to good to awful to bad to merely mediocre moments...but here's to enjoying reality. On what, hopefully, may become a long postseason run.
Nope.
What About Reality?
Hmm...
Welcome to Reality
Among the most interesting reactions to the Hossa trade today was the concern for the "chemistry" of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because, as Pittsburgh fans well know, Colby Armstrong is a hilarious guy, and Erik Christiansen seemed to be another well-liked member of the team. And, really, these guys were close-knit; how else do you explain them winning like crazy sans the league's reigning MVP and scoring champion (I'd contend they're winning due to having an "understudy" who can also play the game at the same rarefied scoring champ/MVP level, but that's a whole other tangent for another blog post, so I'll stop digressing for the moment)?
However, chemistry is not the issue. Not in the short-term and not in the long-term. You say, "Say what" Because, even those who love the trade and are excited about a genuine top flight winger for the first line can at least admit that chemistry, on some level, however minor or major, matters.
To which I say: Nope. Not for this group of Penguins. Chemistry isn't the issue. Reality, however, is, and reality, in this case, means growing up--but not in the ways we've come to think of players "maturing."
The young Penguins were hit smack-dab with reality today. With the reality of the NHL where your friends and teammates get traded, and it's part of the game...part of the business. Where a guy who helped you win games, with whom you hung out playing all kinds of crazy tricks, with whom you came up, is no longer part of your team's future. No longer someone who will be there when you (if you're lucky enough to) lift the Cup.
On some level, all hockey players get this aspect of the game, even relatively "young" ones--trades happen in the major junior leagues, and players leave teams at lower levels than the NHL. It happens.
Yet in the short and long-term, chemistry's just the wrong word for what concerns this group of still young, still otherworldly talented Penguins. Reality hit home today, and you could see the shell-shock of that reality check in much of the game against the Islanders (a game which the Penguins somehow won despite being outshot by a ridiculous margin, something which they need to stop making a habit of if they hope to advance in the postseason, and yet again, I'm going to have to stop digressing). The short-term shock of, "Oh, it's not a joke...friends and teammates and good players really do get traded, and it happens to OUR team." And while the Pens are all professionals, for some of the kids, it could be the first time they're experiencing such a feeling in the NHL.
Which brings me to a long-term concern about reality as it pertains to the kids who, as Shero's move today and ownership's approval of the move signifies, are no longer regarded as kids for whom the future is at some nebulous point in the distance but in the present. Today there was a lot of discussion about the salary cap and the business of resigning or not resigning Hossa, being able to sign our other young players as their entry level deals expire, if Hossa was a rental, etc.
But here's my reality question: I knew trades like today's would happen (though, of course, I was completely taken aback by this trade) eventually. Yet, I also know what happens when trades like these happen. Because I've seen it happen in the 20 plus years I've been a hockey fan. Young players learn the "rules of the game" and learn that the rules of the game are really the rules of the business. They learn to accept player trades as something that occurs, they learn no team stays together forever, and they learn--on an individual level--how to look out for themselves in the business.
My concern about future reality isn't to be cynical and jaded and to say that the current crop of young Pittsburgh hockey stars isn't going to want to remain in Pittsburgh. But it is to say that when reality crashes home, as the rules of the business are learned by the kids, the kids don't just grow up on the ice. They grow up off the ice, too. And some may be about the business of winning Stanley Cups, or of establishing them as a key cog on a Stanley Cup contender, or of making as much money as possible...(and I don't know who's about what, and I'm not trying to insinuate that I do, or make any erroneous assumptions about any player, and that's actually not a digression). But the bottom line is: For the youthful Penguins players, reality changed today. Reality changed in the form of a GM saying:
Your time is now...and, oh yes, in addition to your time being now, this form of reality (your friends and teammates being traded) is part of that reality.
Welcome to the grown-up world of reality, young Pittsburgh Penguins.
And as for us concerned fans? May as well just enjoy the whirlwind that comes from watching children grow up--and note that whirlwind will span the gamut from great to good to awful to bad to merely mediocre moments...but here's to enjoying reality. On what, hopefully, may become a long postseason run.
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