Lightning, struck down
The Stamkos injury is a huge blow for the Tampa Bay Lightning and NHL as a whole. But, what could we learn from it? It was a combination of the speed of the game with Stamkos going hard to the net while backchecking in his own zone. Some slight contact with Dougie Hamilton of the Bruins sends Stamkos crashing into the Lightning net as it becomes dislodged — as was instituted decades ago to help prevent and minimize injuries. Unfortunately his leg hits the post awkwardly and that sickening visual spells out the severity of the injury. Things like this happen.
A couple of years ago we collectively worried for the future of Sidney Crosby while he struggled with ongoing concussion issues. Head injuries became the hot button topic solely because of Crosby’s injury. How can we prevent them? How should they be treated? Should we err more on the side of caution? What about the equipment? What about the medical knowledge? Should more punitive penalties be instituted for hits and in particular head hits?
With Crosby, we looked at ways we felt we could "fix" the game, because you can never "fix" the game to replace the loss of one of the few true superstars. Meanwhile Stamkos kept playing while Crosby was injured. Stamkos never missed a single game due to injury in his five NHL seasons.
Crosby’s injury resulted in intensive time and thought spent to address the issue of concussions. When Mario Lemieux struggled with his back injuries, the NHL and hockey world took action to correct his charges of the league having evolved into a "Garage League.” Wayne Gretzky was never totally the same after his back woes stemming from a hit by Gary Suter in a 1991 Canada Cup game and — led by then Kings’ owner Bruce McNall, who never met a microphone he didn’t like — there was a small hue and cry about the nature of the hit that Suter laid on Gretzky. Bobby Orr’s chronic and career-shortening knee woes were chalked up to the misfortune of being treated in an era with a lack of true sports medicine knowledge.
In all cases the stature of player led to soul-searching inquiries into their injuries. But Stamkos? Stamkos’s injury just reminds us that we can take all the precautionary measures possible, but hockey is hockey and injuries will remain a part of the game.
Talk is cheap
Consider: the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers were two teams with similar off-season predicaments. Look at the standings now, and it’s hard to credit, but a few shirt months ago both organizations were in similar and dire need for front-office changes.
In Edmonton, Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish made bold statements on behalf of the "new" Oilers because, well, it was high time for boldness and Edmonton was willing to talk up the need for change. So much so that Ralph Krueger was replaced as the Oilers head coach after just one lockout-shortened season. MacTavish would go on to make tangible moves with the team roster, and new coach Dallas Eakins would change the "culture" (An oft-used intangible, it’s pretty simple: If you’re winning, your team culture is great; if you’re losing, it is brutal).
Meanwhile in Denver, the Colorado Avalanche looked to be in chaos. Joe Sakic, like MacTavish in Edmonton, was brought in to oversee the team, a move confused by Greg Sherman staying on as GM. Add a wild card like Patrick Roy to the deck, brought in as head coach. Roy further shuffled the order of things with comments that seemed to indicate he would also be involved in a general manager—like role when it came to personnel decisions. Three dealers for just one deck: disaster in the making. So it seemed.
Edmonton looked on the up; Colorado, not so much. Roy’s unproven track record coaching pro hockey players (though he had success in Junior) didn’t stack up to Eakins, the "hot" prospective coach because of his success with the Toronto Marlies.
Now, six weeks into the NHL season, the Colorado Avalanche have the best overall record in the entire National Hockey League and the Edmonton Oilers are dead last in the Western Conference. What gives? It’s simple: Nobody with the Avalanche ever talked about changing the "culture” — they just went ahead and did it. Where there were remnants of the Pierre Lacroix era in Colorado, including his attempts to install his son Eric as his successor to run the organization. Enter Sakic and Roy, and that changes. The brought energy and new life to the team. No talk, just action.
Adrian Dater, a journalist who has covered the Avalanche for years, kidded that these days in Denver "the air is fresher, food tastes better, the world is just nicer."
It’s doubtful anyone will say that about Edmonton this winter.