“If you build it, they will come.” This isn’t “Field of Dreams” but a lot of the GM’s are hoping for a magical end to their season or they will no doubt have a lot of haunting thoughts of what could have been.
Historically there’s no storybook ending for a lot of organizations that have loaded up and built what they hoped to be a championship team. Over the years a lot of teams have ultimately fallen short, but the real question is why? Why do “super teams” built for championships struggle? Why do some “super teams” work, while others fail miserably? Do those hockey minds making all of the decisions ever study the past to help navigate their current decisions?
When “super teams” do go all in and go on to win, everyone looks at the sheer brilliance and admire the team’s brain trust for making all the right moves in securing the best possible chance at winning it all and that championship glory is something to behold, until the monumental rebuild hits. Was it all worth it? There’s not one person in junior hockey that would say it wasn’t worth it win or lose? Championship glory in junior hockey believe it or not is incredibly rare.
All of the recent moves we are seeing in the QMJHL predominantly with two or three teams making deals are somewhat like desperation moves right now to build out or obtain a monopoly of the best trade targets or players.
You can love or hate all of the moves, but as GM’s jockey for position what is looming in the back of their minds is no doubt a pretty dark void of uncertainty.
“What if all the shit and tinkering they are doing doesn’t pay off?”
“Oh, you can’t think like that, or your beaten already.”
Well, you can’t tell me that hasn’t gone through the minds of all those people pulling the trigger right now on deals. You see, everything looks great on paper and each one of those teams and people are banking on themselves winning the deal. One can only imagine being behind the scenes of all these trades and seeing them unfold and experiencing that adrenaline. Believing you’re one or two moves away from a championship and being the main cog in that wheel, that’s some messed up pressure to deal with as well. It would no doubt be very addicting and the calculated yet risk taking “hockey mind ego” that a lot of these GM’s possess plays a massive role for them calling all of these shots.
This might sound cliché, but it all comes down to people and your knowledge of them. Is your coach capable of actually coaching a “super team”? Are the players you acquired able to fulfill roles and are they able to park their egos and play to the identity or role they are given?
Does your coach actually have control of the room or are all the “veteran stars” calling the shots? Knowing themselves and their own tendencies or bias’s also plays a massive role in entire process of a load and go scenario for the GM’s.
If you build it, championships will come or they may not come and that’s the reality of all this and you have to know that going in.
There’s a high probability that many of the people calling the shots haven’t done their homework on past “super teams” and their success or failure because many of them are so caught up with their current group that they ignore or neglect the past or they so confident in their own plan of action that they don’t want to even think about the negative scenarios that could arrive.
What worked, what didn’t?
The search for chemistry is always on the minds of those making the decisions during the trade period. Chemistry takes time and the search for chemistry and cohesion can’t be forced, it needs to happen organically, but a lot of these “super teams” can’t afford the time it takes, because they’re in the battle either trying to gain traction in the standings or try to live up to the expectations. Many of these teams never find their true chemistry. Learning and building chemistry on the fly, that’s the goal for any “super team.” There might be some good, bad and ugly things that happen over the course of that progression or search, but that’s what the process is all about.
Obviously, you can look at game tape, you can look at their specialty teams play, the goals against and be negative, but from a team perspective you can learn a lot from the first 10 games in the second half or once these teams are collectively assembled and build on it.
Everyone knows “super teams” fall within the crosshairs of the entire league after being manufactured and with that comes some pretty astronomical expectations and a lot of teams find out very quickly what their new group is made of.
The character of any player is often revealed with adversity. In many cases once these teams are put together especially if the coach doesn’t have control of the room, players get massively complacent and that’s no doubt the foreshadowing the organization didn’t predict or about as nightmarish of a scenario as you could get.
Case in point, going out and acquiring secondary scoring, or a player you believe to be that prototypical 3rd line winger that can bring offence to your bottom six. Sounds great on paper, until the kid arrives and sees and experiences the real pecking order. The moves you make in hopes of revamping and strengthening your lineup take a massive toll in the room and drastically affect moral and chemistry off the ice. Attitudes and mindsets become fractured incredibly fast when new and old players alike are given new roles.
The “greater good” of the team or championship aspirations disappear pretty quickly when these super teams discover descension in the ranks. Just because you made a shit ton of trades doesn’t guarantee you a championship. Just because you think you have made all the right moves doesn’t mean they will result in your team winning.
Winning a championship takes a lot of different things that are controllable and not controllable falling into place, and sometimes the trades that aren’t made during the trade period when everyone expects it pays off in the long run. Even if you build it, a championship may not come. That’s life in the QMJHL and all of the people pulling the trigger on trades right now wouldn’t trade that feeling for a second if it all pays off in the end.
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