Championship experience - a noticeable shift in culture?

[blankall]

It feels like the culture is just a lot less about the individuals. The team moving as one seems to be the new mantra. Obviously Gaudreau and his dangles are going to be a key component to winning, but it feels more like he is moving in and out of a system, as opposed to doing it all himself (except in OT, where he reverts back to old Gaudreau).

Another major change is that Sutter has spread out the ice time among the depth. This is especially true among the d-core. Out of all the regular D-men, the one with the least ice time is Zadarov at 16:35. This ensures that all of the d-men are skating hard at all times.

Would Giordano have worked in this system? I could see the challenge of a convincing a 38 year old recent Norris winner to take a lesser role.

[Hack&Lube]

When the team is performing poorly, players become selfish and play for their own stats instead of each other.

Lucic is sending a good message about how this is a team game and I hope this reverberates in the locker room even if we run into a dry spell.

[Eric Vail]

The biggest change for this Flames team is the consistency they play with. They have played well at times every year, but they were up and down. Many games they weren't ready and had awful first periods.

Sutter has brought in guys who have helped him sell to the rest of the team that you need to put a complete effort in every shift, and you need to be ready to play before the puck drops.

None of us know the personalities of the guys who have come in. There are people who would be excellent assets for a coach like Sutter in selling his program and I believe he has targeted them. I bet there are others who have had playoff success, but wouldn't be nearly as good at getting their teammates ready to go.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It's not just about making the coach happy, it's about having earned the respect of both the coach and the other players. Lucic, Richardson, Lewis, Coleman. These are guys that not only make the coach happy by playing the right way night in and night out, they have been there. They can positively contribute to the locker room and command respect even as 4th liners (in some of their cases) because they have the experience and the pedigree. They actually know what it takes and what kind of effort is required to win the cup. It's not just coming from the coach, it's coming from guys scattered throughout the roster.

I loved Hathaway, but if you think he commands even 1/4 of the respect a guy like Lewis does, you're probably wrong.

Sports psychology is a real thing. A big part of the game is played between the ears, in the locker room, and in practice. To change the culture you can't just have one coach and say "ok, change the culture," you need guys who buy in. And the more guys you have, the easier it's going to be to change the mentality of guys who struggle with buy-in. It's natural for guys like Tkachuk and Monahan who may not be producing the way they'd like to go back to old habits, but they have an entire team holding them accountable and saying "this is the way you win" from guys who have actually won.

Saying any one of these guys was a passenger is completely missing what it takes to win the cup.

Why is it then that the 2018 team, which had Cup winners like Versteeg, Brouwer, Jagr in depth roles (plus a respected vet in Stajan), was unable to ein even half their games, while the 2019 team with relative nobodies like Mangiapane, Ryan, Hathaway in those roles, plus a headcase in was able to win the west?

Culture is a lot more than just putting guys with their name on the cup on the roster. And a lot of the time, it's teams with players who have won in the past that have a bad culture all the same. Toews... Kane... Doughty... Brown... Kopitar... is what those teams are missing Trevor Lewis and Brad Richardson on their fourth line?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Why is it then that the 2018 team, which had Cup winners like Versteeg, Brouwer, Jagr in depth roles (plus a respected vet in Stajan), was unable to ein even half their games, while the 2019 team with relative nobodies like Mangiapane, Ryan, Hathaway in those roles, plus a headcase in was able to win the west?

Culture is a lot more than just putting guys with their name on the cup on the roster. And a lot of the time, it's teams with players who have won in the past that have a bad culture all the same. Toews... Kane... Doughty... Brown... Kopitar... is what those teams are missing Trevor Lewis and Brad Richardson on their fourth line?

When the point is that it takes both a coach and players who know how to get there to create a winning culture, I don't see how 2018, 2019, or today's Chicago or LA does absolutely anything to dispute that. You're proving my point.

[Sylvanfan]

I think the coaching and the culture are working together to provide positive results this far. The coach has his guys that he trusts to play his way, and these other more tenured guys on the team are aware of this. If they don't play the way the coach wants, they actually take the threat seriously that this coach will take their ice time and give it to the guys he trusts.

In the past the talented guys got a free pass because the coaching didn't provide a clear enough message as to how they were supposed to play. The coach(es) didn't have the gall to pull ice time from his better players if they didn't, and the veteran leaders were not exactly loyal foot soldiers tot he coach from their past life. So it was basically an empty threat.

Last year I suspected there was almost three factions on the team with the veteran Sweedish guys, the young guys, and the other veteran players like Lucic, Giordano, and Tanev. Geoff Ward was not able to get these groups aligned to work cohesively. In the offseason the Flames did go after guys that the Analytics community HATES big time to supplement the roster, but guys who had a history with the coach who were not expected to play major roles.

On ice this team has no Captain or defined Leader, but it's pretty clear that Daryl Sutter is the Leader. But a big part of Leadership in larger groups is having people who will follow the Leader and work with that person to achieve the desired goals of the organization. People who understand the plan, believe in it, and are willing to do what is needed to make the plan work. So between these supplemental guys, the addition of a more regular player like Coleman, and other vets like Lucic and Tanev who very much embody what Sutter preaches. There is a foundation for the rest of the group to be compelled to follow that plan.

[Mr.Coffee]

Yes it's experience and all the things mentioned in this thread but I also want to add it's also a night and day difference in straight up work ethic.

To me you watch a guy like Pitlick or Lewis and they are buzzing. Every shift they are working super hard, this type of work ethic is infectious and reverberates that's why it has traditionally been called an "energy line".

If you look at the average game over the last few years vs. this year the players are not just moving their feet more (way more) but they are way more physical, way more willing to block shots or go to the dirty areas like the front of the net. The other night Sutter himself said you can't score outside of the 10 foot sort of square in front that is where the goals are scored. Driving to the net is hard work. For many years there was a HUGE reluctance to drive to the net. I'm not saying they never did it, just way, way more this year.

Standing up for teammates, being willing to fight, basically looking like they give a damn- to me it's a work ethic thing and Sutter gets all this credit. Yes, Sutter deserves so much credit, but as he said the other night- the players are the ones putting the work in. And the results come. You have to give the players a huge amount of credit for how hard they are working on a consistent basis. It's night and day. In fact I don't even know if there has been one game this year they have been outworked? I can't think of one anyway.

And as Sutter said early in the season and he is 1,000,000% right- Calgary is a hard working town and fans in this place respect and appreciate hard work. To be honest, win or lose, just try / do your best. People can tell when you aren't. Everyone always asks Sutter about identity, that is Calgary's identity and it reverberates through the team. If they keep working hard the fans will come along and respect them 100 fold.

[Steve Macfarlane]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Culture Kinks is the name of my next band.

I'm going to have to demand royalties, Reggie.

[djsFlames]

You absolutely know when the team is showing up and when they aren't. Maybe its because our talent level isn't top tier, but we can't skate by on talent alone here, in fact we've demonstrated its very hard to. It has to be a workmanlike approach and it takes a group effort.

This team is showing that they had it in them all along. But they weren't motivated before often enough and didn't concentrate their efforts on the right things and in the right ways. Sutter has shown them the way to squeeze the absolute most out of each guy and "cut out the fat" in their game and make it streamlined and efficient.

The effort for roughly 95% of this 20 game stretch has been genuine. I hope they have a shining example ingrained in their minds now of how they can win and find success, regular season and beyond. They just need return to exactly how they've done things in these 20 games any time they veer off. The great thing is they don't have to rely on luck or brimming confidence to be detail oriented and tenacious all over the ice, whereas before it felt like they were waiting for the former, hence why the club was so streaky for several years.