I spent the day with Craig Simpson a few years ago and he talked at length about the difference between a winning culture and a losing culture based on his experiences with Pittsburgh and Edmonton back in the late 80's.
In Pittsburgh, he talked about how much of a losing culture they had. Veterans constantly hazing rookies and embarrassing them in public, players refusing to listen to coaches, veterans refusing to go out with younger players, no work ethic in practice, players ratting each other out to coaches, coaches afraid to come in the dressing room, veterans not coming to practice, etc...
When he got traded to the Oilers in exchange for Coffee, he was told by Pittsburgh that the team needed to give up some skill to bring in an established winner like Coffee to take over the room and change the culture from the ground level.
Simpson kept in contact with some guys in Pittsburgh and they told him that the minute Coffee arrived, that he took the Oilers winning culture and imposed it on the Penguins.
When Coffee got to Pittsburgh it took him all of the first game to have a melt down. He stood for the anthem and saw a young Penguin with something shaved in his hair standing on the ice. He asked the guy standing beside him why they let players embarrass the team and the jersey by doing garbage like that. When the guy told him that they did it to the young guy as a prank, Coffee supposedly went ballistic. After the game he shut the door and told them he was a winner and wasn't going to tolerate that [insert expletives here].
That was the beginning of the change for Pittsburgh. The new guys felt like they were part of the team, most of the vets felt like they had to prove themselves to the new boss, and those that couldn't cut it were moved on.
On the flip side, when Simpson got to Edmonton, he was immediately welcomed by Messier. Messier told him he could call any of the vets at any time if he needed anything. He also told Simpson what the team and players expected from him on the ice, in the room and in the community. The one thing that he said really struck him was the expectatation to treat practices like games. No dogging it ever.
Gretzky then met him and told him he didn't need to find a place to stay because he was going to live at the Gretzky home until he got on his feet in Edmonton. A month later on Christmas Day, Gretzky woke him up and told him to get dressed because they had work to do. They spent the rest of the day handing out presents at the children's ward of the hospital.
It made me sick to my stomache as an Oiler hater, but everything about that team was about being a winner. It helped that they had a great roster, but a lot of their success was driven by guys at all levels of their roster playing above their skill because of their commitment to the team and their mission to be great.
In terms of what the Flames need to do, it's hard to say as I'm obviously not in the room to know where they are in terms of culture. Judging from the bits and pieces you do hear, I suspect that they need a Captain who brings a pedigree of winning and will lead in the room as well as on the ice. Not just on the ice.
I'd love to see the day where Roger Millions tweets out who is on the ice for the optional skate and hear names from the core leadership as opposed to just rookies and guys who have been relegated to the press box.
When a guy like Jagr stays on the ice until the wee hours to perfect his game, that speaks to a guy who wants to win. When the Flames leaders are the first ones out of the rink as I've heard, that tells me they probably finished where they deserved to finish the last few years.
The stuff we've heard or seen in the past (Hanowski being left at the rink by himself, or Brett Sutter getting arrested for drunken disorderly conduct when the vets get them boozed up and then ditch them) sounds like the Pens from the 80's and that's gotta stop. Leaders need to be making sure this stuff is under control.
That would be a huge step in the right direction.
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