Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan
For every Coyotes and Predators example, I can supply several examples of teams where there is plenty of talent but horrible culture and work ethic surrounding them, dropping their odds of ever competing for a cup. Think Washington, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Heck, I would even include San Jose, Philadelphia, and to a lesser extent Pittsburgh for their lack of a quality system to give their talent the best chance possible of winning. Culture and work ethic matter a lot more than pure talent, but you definitely need both.
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What about Chicago? With the terrible trio of Bell, Calder and Arnason. They were a perpetual blackhole of culture, entitlement, and suck.
Lo and behold the organization drafts elite players and that culture turns around quick enough.
The impact of "culture" is just vastly overrated by fans. The best players win. Culture helps at the margins between the best but either you're good or you're bad. ANd what decides that is how much talent is on the roster, not how often there's a team potluck on the rare off weekend.
The reason Edmonton is terrible is because they are terrible. They have crappy players and have given roster spots to players before earning it. Nothing to do with winning or losing culture.
What's critical is drafting more elite talent. We have some, we need more, things are falling into place. Lets just all celebrate some broken eggs this season. They omelette will be seasoned nicely in a couple years.