Do you think the framework of your team right now can compete for a championship? Do you think your team is hard enough to play against? Do you think the goaltending is good enough right now to go where you want to go? Do you think your “overagers” are impactful enough? Can you win and go all of the way with the players you currently have on your roster?
One would hope those questions and many more have already been discussed and answered by the GM’s and the brain trust of all of the self-imposed top contenders of the QMJHL.
You see it comes back to value, what they consider a winning brand of hockey really is and potentially giving themselves the best chance possible at building a winner. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and take a massive risk, sometimes you have to be calculated and trust and stick with the process.
What’s the Team Missing?
What’s the team missing? Well, that’s about as an open-ended question as they come in junior hockey, but it’s a legitimate question to ask especially heading into what some organizations no doubt have coined the “most important” trade period in their team’s recent history.
Heading into the trade period there’s always some moves or trades that don’t make a ton of sense at the time and subsequent cost of those trades seem astronomical and not a good fit. Sometimes those work out and lead to championship glory, while others lead to playoff underachievement and disappointment.
If you’re going to make a move or multiple moves, what direction are they going to take via a trade? What type of player or players are you targeting and why?
What do you value or see in a player? Do you need to upgrade your overage situation? What type of player do you want on your hockey club for the second half and beyond? How are you going to win with the new player or players you acquire? If you want to build a championship caliber team, you better damn well know the value that each player possesses, and the “new acquisitions” are going to bring. You better also know the character of the “new acquisitions” are going to bring as well.
It’s easy to see who the top contenders are in the QMJHL, but what each one of those teams need moving forward is substantially more difficult to answer. You can bet your ass when GM’s and coaches say things like “We like our group” they still aren’t completely content or want to tinker with their roster configuration. They don’t want to miss a potential impact player or don’t want to regret not making a move.
Winning and having a successful record right now is all fine and dandy, but that doesn’t guarantee anything come playoff time and that’s where value comes into play. Any hockey trade is all about value, value of the player, value of the return and most importantly the value it will bring to the overall group. Value is at the root of every aspect of the game. You see that’s why analytics are supposedly so cutting edge nowadays, because so many people buy into the fact or believe that analytics perfectly describe and outline the value of a player.
This isn’t “Moneyball” folks, this is hockey and analytics though important don’t always describe or outline the intangibles players possess or what a championship caliber teams really need. That’s where the true value of a player rests, the intangibles.
Nevertheless, intangibles work both ways for players and all of those making all of the tough decisions. When a team is in position to “load and go” there’s tons of intangibles to consider when it comes to the person or people pulling the trigger or strings on trades or the people calling the shots behind the bench.
One massive intangible is the relationship between the coach and general manager moving into a “load and go” scenario, obviously, they have to be on the same page or it won’t work.
Another massive variable to consider is ego. Most hockey people have all of the answers. Most hockey people will never admit it when they don’t. Most hockey people are never wrong about anything, especially when it comes to player assessment, projection and their value.
When things don’t work out the way some hockey people thought it would, it’s always someone else’s fault.
Their assessment and self-perceived construction of their team might be way off considering their philosophy and direction that they believe will lead to a championship caliber squad. That’s very problematic if and when that occurs because that can set a franchise back a long way.
Every GM and coach are currently confident or questioning the makeup or roster configuration of their group. Either way they are all assessing their team and chances on vying for a championship. A matter of fact they’re probably asking questions and assessing their group internally now more than the fans are spreading rumours and speculating trades on the boards.
Assessing your group takes transparency and honesty. Sometimes GM’s and coaches have to take a long look in the mirror, and they have to make tough decisions, sometimes the toughest decisions are the most unpopular and they might temporarily divide the room, but they might also provide the best opportunity for the team to win a championship.
It all comes down to the constitution or makeup of the coach, general manager what they value or deem important in winning and the intangibles their players and team possess. Do you think the framework of your team right now can compete for a championship? Do you think your team is hard enough to play against? Do you think the goaltending is good enough right now to go where you want to go? Do you think your “overagers” are impactful enough? Can you win and go all of the way with the players you currently have?
There’s more questions than answers right now for all of the top contenders in the QMJHL, but sometimes the hardest questions have simplest of answers.
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