Game 14: Tampa Bay at Washington
Tampa Bay lost to the Washington Capitals – in Olaf Kolzig’s first ever return in another uniform – by a score of 4-2.
Normally, I’d give you my thoughts and opinions about the game. But let’s forget that. There’s something that was getting to me all game that I just need to get out.
There seems to be a definite lack of leadership on this team. I’m not talking coaches; I’m talking players. No one seems to want the responsibility of being the leader, and it’s costing this team some wins.
Let’s start with the captain, Vinny Lecavalier. He wanted to be captain – again – but he hasn’t really been leading all that much the past few games. You wanted to be captain? So be captain. Every. Single. Game. Assert your authority, take control of the situation, and just do what needs to be done. No complaining, no waiting, and no questions asked. That’s what leadership is about.
But it’s not entirely Lecavalier’s fault. He hasn’t had too much support from his alternates. Marty St. Louis has been perhaps the best leader on the ice so far this season, but Andrej Meszaros seems to be lost in the shuffle. He hasn’t really stood out and taken that leadership role on.
And then there are the older veterans – some of whom have been captain themselves. Where was Gary Roberts before tonight’s game? Chris Gratton’s been fairly consistent, but he strikes me as being pretty happy to keep a low profile – along with Olaf Kolzig. Mark Recchi has also been willing to take some of that leadership role, but I don’t think he wants to step on anyone’s toes since he’s new.
So when the team’s having an off night, there’s got to be at least one guy who will stand up and say that he’ll lead. Not just on the ice, but in the locker room as well. It doesn’t have to be the same guy every night, but you can’t just have guys looking around at each other and wondering if someone else will step up because they’re not quite feeling up to that. No one’s stepping up to fill in that void.
Seriously, if you can’t get things going for Kolzig on a night when he needs the guys the most – particularly when some of the Caps better players were out – then that’s really saying something.
The bottom line: the buck stops with Lecavalier. He’s the captain, and he needs to lead on a consistent basis. It’s his team, all of the guys look to him to set the tone and to get everyone going, and it’s his responsibility to do that.
That doesn’t excuse anyone else from helping him out, though.
3 comments:
I agree whole heartedly with you. I just started watching the lightning this season and really hockey for the first time. After the game on VS. they said the big problem was the line changes. Hopefully Melrose will correct that mistake in future games.
The Lightning had a strange case of Dr. Jeykll/Mr. Hyde as I saw two vastly different Bolts teams play in the past few days. On Saturday against the Flyers, the team dominated the Flyers [Dr. Jeykll] but the players had a lackluster performance on Monday against the Capitals [Mr. Hyde] that embarrassed Melrose—“It wasn’t what [the Capitals] were doing; we were awful.”
Besides the lack of leadership, is there an issue with team chemistry?
Team chemistry could be a season-long problem with how the ownership/management group is trading people into and out of the lineup. But I think it starts with the leadership, and then chemistry will come along after. Team stability has got to start somewhere.
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