🏒🥅 🏆 🇨🇦 I think team leadership, on the bench, on the ice, and off of it, means

🏒🥅 🏆 🇨🇦 I think team leadership, on the bench, on the ice, and off of it, means a lot more than many hockey fans and pundits acknowledge.

My hypothesis: teams can benefit from long term coach/team relationship. Some evergreen contenders —Avalanche, Panthers, Hurricanes— are Cup winners in part, I believe, because their coaches have been trusted by GMs (and owners) to build success over time.

Another hypothesis: a Capt with gravitas and a 200-ft game is important for Cup success.

The team I’m now following closely, the Habs, seems to have both qualities. The team I used to root for, doesn’t. They have talent. But they’ve averaged à new coach every two years for over a dozen years. Same for goalies. And the Capt, while an offensive genius, will not play 200 ft consistently. This may be why the Habs become the first 🇨🇦 team to win Stanley in a very long time.

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