In sports like hockey, winning is what observers use to measure success. Similar to most other competitive endeavors, winning in hockey is relative to its environment and every year the competition changes; players switch teams and grow older; managers and coaches get replaced. But the most volatile aspect of this business – not to mention the one that has perhaps has the greatest influence on success – is in the collective motivation of the players that make up individual teams. The sports industry is about as pure of a meritocracy as there is. Each team is saturated with talent and strong coaching. Eventually what separates the teams that win from the teams that lose is how motivated they are to win. It’s not that the losers don’t care so much as the winners want it so bad, they can’t even finish a bowl of Fruity Pebbles without thinking at least twenty times of their names being engraved on the hardware.
I don’t pretend like I know a polished receipt for winning in the National Hockey League. I could probably list about a dozen things that winning teams do well and then say something vague and ridiculous like hockey teams need to be able to do at least eight of these things and then they’ll probably be in position to achieve some degree of success. That wouldn’t be interesting though because I’m not a professional and I’m ignorant to more facets of hockey than I’d ever like to admit.
For now, I want to just talk about the players. I think early in their careers they probably consider winning the same way that young filmmakers and musicians care about the acclaim that comes from winning awards like the Oscars and Grammys. Hockey players may very well want to win the Stanley Cup when they’re young but it seems to me like winning is accessory to stabilizing and legitimizing their place in this industry. Young players measure personal success based on the accomplishment of individual goals and hopefully, by extension, it contributes to the success of their team. That’s totally understandable from my perspective. It’s clearly different for veterans though. For older veterans, they define personal success as being a contributor on a winning team. That’s why they tend to be the best leaders. The desire to collect championships is usually greatest in these players and they’re more likely to run through a wall in order to do so. I’m going to start calling this desire The Fire because it’s contagious in that it spreads, well, like fire and portrays an image that’s often associated with passion. A player with The Fire is someone that’s supremely motivated to perform at an extraordinarily high level while pushing or pulling or dragging, but hopefully inspiring, his team to victory.
Besides age, there are other triggers a player has that can cause him to catch The Fire and drive his team to win. I see The Fire most often in players trying to repair a damaged reputation or players with tremendous and exceptional reputations. I can’t think of any instance when it’s both. The difference is that in the former, the individual player with The Fire is extremely personally motivated and the team is motivated by association. The opposite is true with the latter when a team becomes extremely motivated simply by being around such a powerful presence. The individual simply has to continue to perpetuate his reputation. An aging veteran may have The Fire for reasons other than the previous two I mentioned but often their diminished skills prevents them from being a serious difference maker. So while they have value, it’s not the same as the examples I’m about to reference.
If you look at a guy like Chris Drury it’s pretty obvious he’s not even in the same solar system in terms of talent level as the superstars in this league but his reputation is nearly as illustrious. Drury has won championships at so many different levels that winning has become part of his identity as a hockey player. There are reasons for that: his personality, work ethic, style of play, among other things. Combined with a bit of fortune, he’s tagged as a natural leader – a winner. His reputation, not his scoring production, is what affects his teammates most. Of course Drury still works hard and everything else one would expect of him but from the management, coaches, and fans perspective, they should be hoping The Fire ignites his teammates to live up to the standard of a Drury lead team that’s followed him his entire career.
There are plenty of examples where the reputation of a single player elevates his team to extraordinary levels, beyond what their talent suggests the team should be achieving. Think of what Chris Pronger did for the ’06 Oilers and the ’07 Ducks. Think of what Martin Brodeur is doing for this year’s Devils and what Ryan Smyth is doing for this year’s Kings. I mention Drury though because although he’s not at all washed up, he isn’t really a super star either. He’s just a guy that contributes who teammates really respect and admire.
On the other hand, a poor reputation that’s been built on a foundation of unfulfilled expectations can sometimes but not always evoke a strong response from the right player. The desire for redemption is the source for motivation. There are players sprinkled all over the league trying to redeem themselves from a personal indiscretion or injury or production slump or a history of failing in important situations or whatever. Redemption is a powerful motivational tool especially when mixed with talent. Accomplishing individual goals may be fulfilling and satisfying but it doesn’t attract nearly the same attention as winning does.
For Sidney Crosby last year and Alex Ovechkin this year, two players that have accomplished almost all the personal goals expected of them except for winning a professional championship, The Fire comes from redemption. It case its slipped your mind, Crosby lost in the last game of the ’08 finals to the Red Wings and Ovechkin lost to the rivaled Penguins in the second round of the ’09 playoffs. Losing is different for them because they are such exceptional talents. Despite all the great things Crosby and Ovechkin do for their teams, people will always look to them in defeat. It’s their team, win or lose. In the years that followed those agonizing eliminations, each put up huge statistical seasons and pushed their teams to an insane amount of wins though how many games the Capitals will win is still of course unknown. Crosby is playing great this year but he doesn’t have The Fire like he did last year and it shows in how some of his teammates have been playing. There’s not as much on the line for Crosby to prove like there was last year. Ovechkin might have The Fire last year but having to experience professional disappointment of that magnitude looks to have really motivated him even further this year and, more importantly, it further motivated his team.
Tim Thomas was another classic case of redemption last year. He willed his team to victory. The Bruins rallied around him. But look how much things have changed for Thomas in less than 12 months. Thomas is now an established goaltender and so the pressure to prove his doubters wrong is no longer as strong.
Meanwhile does it really seem like Mike Richards has The Fire this year? He’s a fine player but he’s just one of many on the Flyers with similar reputations and little on the line personally. The careers of Richards, Carter, and Hartnell are not measured with the same standard of players like Crosby and Ovechkin. Richards will need to taste agonizing defeat in a situation where his shortcomings were the result of the team’s failure and it will need to come at a time in his career where the thought of winning championships wakes him up at 3AM in cold sweats. It has to torment him. If those feelings don’t shadow him, talented opponents for whom it does are going to pass the Flyers by.
It’s not that Thomas or Richards have become lazy; it’s just that The Fire seems to be burning more intensely in players like Ovechkin and Heatley than in Richards and Thomas. They, Richards and Thomas, are established players in this league now with few doubters and neither have the reputation of a world beater capable of continually inspiring greatness in his teammates. When it comes to having success in hockey there needs to be a source for the motivation – a source for The Fire.