Bones les dénonce pour leur manque d’effort et leur tolérance à la défaite. Au lieu de se regarder dans le miroir, le groupe dirigeant s’est mis sur la défensive. Ils semblaient tous s’aligner sur une réfutation spécifique et obstinée, "Nous ne sommes pas d’accord avec la défaite, nous devons juste apprendre à gagner." Cela semble bien, mais c’est un script recyclé.
En novembre 2023, après avoir perdu 4-3 contre les Caps, leur huitième défaite consécutive, a déclaré Provorov.
"Pour être honnête, je pense que nous devons continuer à essayer de jouer de la bonne manière, continuer à travailler dur. Évidemment, nous avons quelques jeunes dans l’équipe, et ce club a traversé des moments difficiles l’année dernière, donc il faut du temps pour apprendre à gagner. En ce moment, j’ai l’impression que nous y sommes presque, mais pas tout à fait, et qu’il y a presque une grande différence entre gagner et perdre des matchs. Nous avons donc appris de nos erreurs. Source
Il me semble que Provorov excuse une diapositive de huit matchs pour avoir été "presque là" en 2023.
Des mois plus tard, Zach a utilisé ces mêmes jeunes gars qui "je n’ai pas connu la victoire" pour justifier de s’en sortir après une avance ratée à San Jose.
"Je pense que si nous pouvons enchaîner quelques victoires, nous pourrons bâtir sur cela pour la saison prochaine. Beaucoup de jeunes dans cette salle n’ont pas vraiment fait l’expérience de gagner au hockey de manière constante. Beaucoup de nos jeunes joueurs, je pense que ce serait bien pour eux si nous pouvons obtenir des victoires constantes ici, vous savez, trois ou quatre de suite, sept sur 10, peu importe ce que cela signifie pour terminer la saison ici. Je pense que nous pouvons simplement apprendre à gagner dans certaines situations et dans différents bâtiments. Source
Ces citations datent de novembre 2023 et février 2024. Si vous êtes "apprendre à gagner" pendant plusieurs saisons, vous n’apprenez pas. Vous stagnez.
Cela me dérange que le groupe dirigeant semble nier. Je ne m’attends pas à ce qu’ils s’approchent du micro et disent "Ouais, Bones a raison, nous aimons perdre et avoir une intersaison plus longue." Mais j’attends une véritable responsabilité. La bonne chose à dire aux médias est : "Oui, je tiens à gagner et je déteste perdre. Mais si un entraîneur avec autant d’expérience réclame publiquement nos efforts, je dois me regarder attentivement dans le miroir et trouver comment répondre à cette attente."
Cependant, en disant les bonnes choses, ces phrases favorables aux relations publiques, cela ne les laisse pas s’en sortir. En présentant cette déception comme une courbe d’apprentissage, ils esquivent ce que Bones dit vraiment. "C’est un problème d’effort et de culture, pas un problème de compétence ou d’expérience."
Parlant du point de vue de Bowness, il souligne explicitement leur niveau de soin et d’effort. Et aujourd’hui, il peut voir son groupe de direction transformer cette critique en une "expérience" problème. Doit être exaspérant pour un entraîneur exigeant des responsabilités.
En résumé, les joueurs contredisent leur entraîneur en public. un entraîneur avec plus de 3000 matchs derrière un banc dans une certaine mesure. Bowness dit "Vous n’essayez pas assez et vous acceptez de perdre." Les joueurs répondent, "Non… nous détestons perdre, nous ne savons tout simplement pas encore comment gagner."
En esquivant le défi de l’effort, en se cachant derrière cela "apprentissage" excuse, ils lui prouvent le point de vue de Bones : ils refusent de se regarder dans le miroir.
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zwikl
8 Comments
Except, it wasn’t just the « leadership » group.
Literally every player they had on today said that.
I think they were unlucky, injured and playing a bastardized system of what Bones actually wanted. There are some people who needed to do more, there were some people who we took for granted, and there were some people who did enough.
It seemed like Z, specifically, wanted to say a lot more, but I think he’ll say it to Bones, and not the media.
I get the frustration and there are definitely some players that ignored it and gave their same PR slop, but there were also players using less ‘we’ and more ‘i’. The team effort part is important but we need those people that are really willing to work on themselves.
The problem with the questions the press is asking is that they are inadvertantly directed towards the whole team (i.e. culture of losing and such). Being too negative would very clearly be throwing the management and your friends under a bus. I can guarantee if those questions were a bit more personal about what each person could improve in themselves instead of trying to get a reaction out of them we would have quite different answers.
Reminds me of when Jarmo would say every year the team would be pushing for a playoff spot when they were clearly lacking any sort of contending qualities, then rushed a rebuild by acquiring 2 offensive defensemen that we didn’t need. At least one of them is seemingly getting better. The other just got anchored here because “he plays a lot of games”
Z and Boone were with the team through the entire 2017-2020 playoff run. Elvis was there in 2020. Other guys have been on winning teams in the past. This is such a bullshit excuse. What’s the leader core of the team doing if they aren’t teaching the young guys to win? Mo was a rookie in 23-24, and Vronk and KJ were in their second seasons that year. They don’t get a pass. If you can’t learn to win within your first 3 seasons, what are you even doing in the league? Mateychuk has more heart than most of the veterans in his second full season.
If Bones is back, strip everyone to equals. No captains until he sees them earn it. Let him do it his way.
^ I haven’t finished watching the last 3 interviews, but I got the vibes from Kirill that he wanted to win and wanted to work hard. He hadn’t seen the clip, so he was trying to respond (in a non-native language) and for what he said, I accepted it. He admitted he missed a lot of shots to an empty net and took responsibility for his shortcomings.
I think Fantilli is very personally upset. He really stepped up after Olivier went out, and I get the feeling that after he talks with Bones a bit more, he’ll do the homework. Same with Sillinger — he seemed to take it the most head-on.
Zach, Boone, Provy, Sean, Mason… ehhhhh. Lackluster at best. Haven’t seen Jet, Gudbranson, or Charlie yet. Soon.
Some facts if the franchise wants to win a Cup
1) Due to the current state of the team, not a single UFA player « who really wants to win a ff’in Cup » is coming to Cbj. Thus: it is almost impossible to build a roster « that really will do anything to win » through the UFA way. Not really an option.
2) The market size / geography / weather / history etc isn’t getting anyone into the team on the cheap. If someone wants warm weather + golfing? Goes somewhere else. If someone wants a solid winter + a ski lodge? Somewhere else. If someone wants low taxes / high sponsorship money / a gigantic hockey city / a metropolis … they’ll go somewhere else. So: building a solid roster via the UFA method, by « getting high quality players very cheaply, because they really want to come to here due to reason X » … is probably never gonna work. So that’s out.
So the only realistic way to really build a Cup winner is via the Draft. They would have to tank so f » »ing hard for so many years, that they’ll get a roster that just can’t be denied.
The unfortunate fact? The most recent Cbj tank+draft period was not enough for that. Yes, multiple top5 picks, and even more 1st rounders …. but wayyyyyyyyyy too many misses, and not enough big stars.
The recent tank lasted about 2021-24, and the 1st rounders were:
5 OA Kent Johsnon
12 OA Cole Sillinger
25 OA Corson Ceulemans
6 OA David Jiricek
12 OA Denton Mateychuk
3 OA Adam Fantilli
4 OA Cayden Lindström
They just about had enough picks …. but the actual players picked just aren’t enough.
Fantilli is nice, yes, but not a generational guy who could drag the franchise by himself. He needs multiple other stars.
And the rest? Just too middling.
You could easily claim that none of the « new core » drafts picks will never the best player on the team. Because Werenski at 36 might easily still be better than they will be once they start aging out of their peaks.
And if they start to draft « a new core » now, Werenski et al will be retired when the team would start to contend.
That’s why if I were in the front office, I would do a better scorched-earth rebuild. And I would go so deep, and for so long, that the new top players would of such superstar calibre, that some players might even come here just to try to win with them. I would stop it only when the tank is full beyong any doubts.
Bonus: I’d reconsider the logo. Maybe try something more with the cannon? (I’d bet they can’t find a single player who thinks the logo inspires them to jump teeth-first in front of pucks)
This team is the most unserious franchise in all of North American sports. Unless they bring back Bowness, then they have no true intention of being competitive