In my part of the world the Ottawa Senators have not started that well. They got smoked Monday night 7-1 by the Canucks and all the media has begun second guessing. Did I mention they are only six games in. The GM has assembled a bunch of young kids in the line up with some veterans who are on the back nine of their career. The Coach has less than one year experience as an NHL head coach. For the love of Mike give them some room to grow. You have a team of 30 people all on a different learning curve who process information for learning at a different pace. Some of the older and somewhat slower guys are there to protect the younger assets so they don’t get run over. Your goalie is coming back from concussion issues and yes he has some confidence issues. The season is 56 games in length and the sports media measures success in wins and losses. I am looking at this team, particularly 8-10 young players and how they develop on per game basis. The player development plan for these players has to be continually evaluated. It is a different game sheet for this team, this year.
Coach Smith and/ or GM Dorion need to have a hard conversation with Colin White. There is too much talent to give up on. It took Nick Paul three or four tries before the light went on. Smith and Dorion need to go over the player development plan with White to make sure he knows his role and fully understands it. He must also understand what it takes to move up in the lineup . Telling a player to work harder is not really the answer. Telling him what to focus on is far more important. Focus is different for every athlete no matter what the sport. Colin White needs to find his purpose and his role in order to get better. It is the Coach and/or GM job to make sure he has the tools to do it.
Success is never a perfect ascent , it can be pretty messy until you figure it out.
Until next time.
Be well, stay safe.
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