Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbsy
the hawks are great as they have a player in kane, with elite offensive ability, lacking in character/leadership/defense/etc, but are able to insulate him and cover his deficiencies with other strong players like toews, keith, seabrook, sharp, etc, etc.
kessel has phaneuf. Would kane be as successful, or viewed differently if he was in kessel's place with the leafs. how would kessel do on the hawks?
i'd say both teams would fair exactly as they do today, with kane/kessel interchanged.
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IMO you can say Kane may have (past) character issues and lacks the leadership that someone like Toews has, but his defensive game meets the same requirements as every other member of the Hawks. That's what is being discussed here. Are your best players above certain parts of the game just because they contribute in other ways. Certain things, yes. You don't expect Kane to be throwing his body at everyone or be out on the PK blocking shots. But when he is on the ice, his expectations for playing the TEAM part of the game (aka playing without the puck) are the same as everyone elses. And you can bet that his good buddy Toews is in his ear if he's not.
That is not happening here with the Leafs. If your best player is not expected to be your best player everywhere, you won't hacve a successful team. You just won't. Kane likely wouldn't be who he is on the Leafs because the problem is with the Leafs allowing top players to act this way (Kadri is the same IMO). And Kessel likely would either be a better all around player (if he took lessons from his teammates and coaches) or be on a different team by now. Successful teams understand that effort has to go up and down the lineup. Kane's skillset and size prevent him from playing the type of game that someone like Bollig does, but that doesn't mean his effort is less.
This story is telling me that Kessel's effort is less. He doesn't want to skate ALL the way across the ice? Is that too far to drag his fat ass? Maybe he disagrees with the tactic, which is fine, but that's something you challenge later on, not in the middle of drills at practice. Maybe he's telling you to go that far so you can shed your All-Star-15 before the season opens? The short of it is, it doesn't matter. You listen to your coach and apply the team game they are trying impliment, whatever the system is. If you have a problem with it, go to the coach/management after, voice your concerns and/or request a trade. Slack assing to get your way shows a lack of maturity/respect for his coaches and specifically his teammates on his part and a lack of balls from the coaching staff to tell their "star" where to go and how to get there.
A sports team is not a democracy. No workplace is.