I'm officially a Senators fan. On Monday, the Ottawa Senators (NHL team, for those who aren’t Canadian) fired their coach, Paul MacLean. The day after a great come-from-behind victory, too. Possibly their best game all year. Weird.
Why fire the coach after an amazing game?
When did this become a sports blog?
I mean, what the hell is going on here?!
Listen to the reason GM (General Manager, sheesh) Bryan Murray gave for letting MacLean go.
“I think what happened last night was, it was one of our better games, there’s no question. The good thing that happened for us was that we got behind 3-0. We forgot about all the rules and structure and everything. We just went out and played hockey.
Hockey’s a game and sometimes you just have to go play. Have a little fun with it and chase the puck and do things. We did that and I think our speed showed up. I think some talent showed up and we made some plays and fortunately for us, we won the hockey game. But I think that’s what I would like to see our team be – our players have to have some fun. It’s a game. We have to have some fun playing the game.
We have so many rules sometimes that we take the fun away from it, so maybe now, we’ll play a little different style – we’ll play a little more aggressive style. We’ll try to chase the puck more often and I think that will play to the strength of the young people on our hockey team.
And that’s what I would like to see happen – that we get back to real simple (play). Move the puck. Be in a good position. Help each other and be creative in your way. We have got some very instinctive hockey players here, just play that way.”
I was watching the press conference when it happened (flipping around until Chopped came on), and it blew my mind. It seems obvious that hockey is a game when you ask kids. But when you ask adults, it’s not a game. Nothing’s a game. It’s a business. And you have to win to make money. And winning comes from hard work and doing it right.
It’s a bold statement for a PROFESSIONAL hockey team (meaning playing for money, NOT for fun) to make. But a damn important one. So many “creative” industries try to set up the rules and structures for how to work, instead of promoting play.
The ad agency I got fired from (the most recent time) was implementing the rules of staying late, working weekends, being in the office at all times and a bunch of other old fashioned ways of thinking. None of which have anything to do with being more creative.
So thank you Bryan Murray. Thank you for understanding that even at a professional level, if take away the play, you ain’t got nothin.
Going on the record to say that the Senators will make the playoffs. If I were bolder, I’d say win the cup, but, you know, they’re not that good…. ahhh fuck it.
