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Originally Posted by Oil Stain
Am I the only one that thinks the dressing room vibes are entirely overrated?
I believe that locker room cohesion has almost zero impact on wins and losses.
It seems to me that locker room issues are only ever talked about when teams aren't successful, and they just give the media and fans something to gossip about to distract themselves from the lack of success on the ice.
Case in point, Vancouver. Last couple of years all we heard about was how the dressing room was poisoned. Now they are on a great run, and we aren't hearing a peep.
Seems like the only reason locker room issues get brought up is because some people mistakenly believe that the locker room vibes have a tangible impact on the on ice product, and so the problems get aired when things aren't rolling.
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It is and it isn't.
It can be a used as a crutch for some teams (easy out/excuse when things aren't good), and could be a problem for others. But to pretend that it's a made up thing in general I think would be foolish.
Where it's actually an issue you probably don't hear about it as loudly as last years Canucks where it appeared they were leaning into the narrative. I feel bad most for Boudreau in that case because he took the brunt of it. Maybe the guys should have shut up for his sake.
That the Flames only really admitted there were problems after guys were dealt away is pretty telling and probably says that yeah, some things were weighing on the group. That and the fact that the atmosphere and on ice morale appear to be way higher.
I don't know if its good to strive to have the d###s in prominent positions but good for Edmonton for making it work regardless of the team being littered with a few guys that don't have reputations of being upstanding dudes, at least in the past. I don't know how they've got them all to pull in the same direction as well as they have, but they have.
I wouldn't want to be the person mediating if/when internal issues crop up with the personalities in there. Good thing it appears like they get along well enough.