Team Chemistry

For a long time I have said that the Ottawa Senators were brute-forced together. Their current troubles in the locker room (including the situation with Heatley) seem to prove that particular opinion. Hasek, Emery, Heatley, Comrie... That team did not seem to me to be playing like a team. And I'm guessing that Clouston was trying to get them to play like a team, but it was more than one player who wasn't playing along. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the disruptions to team chemistry did not start with Heatley... nor will they end with him.

Note to the people comparing this to the Yashin situation - it is not even remotely the same. Yashin asked for more money while still under contract, and when the team refused, he refused to play. Then when the fans sued him for breach of contract, he blamed the fans. THEN he asked to be traded, which the team essentially refused to do. THEN he said 'okay, I'll come back and play' for the same amount that he'd refused to a year earlier. THIS is what has earned him a permanent place on my shit-list. Dany Heatley has only asked to be traded due to a diminished role on the team. He has NOT asked for more money, NOR has he refused to play for the team.

As for the Leafs... I don't know what to think of that. I don't think it's brute-forced together, but at the same time I don't know whether the team currently HAS any chemistry whatsoever.

I have seen the Blackhawks play recently and they DO have chemistry. Whether it will be enough to get them through this season is something else entirely.

I cannot say that the Leafs are no longer my favourite team. At the moment I have little to no access to Leafs games and a hell of a lot of access to Blackhawks games. I want the Leafs to pull themselves together and become a properly cohesive team. I do not, unfortunately, see that happening until something is done with the upper management, however. I will note: this is not a bashing of Burke. I think the problems the Leafs have go higher than even him.