It is a classic dilemma every coach faces in every sport from the moment the first score was kept.
Why, coaches constantly wonder, do the players play well in some games and seem completely out of sorts in others?
Blackhawks coach Denis Savard is contemplating that now, just as his predecessor, Trent Yawney, did before him and as every other coach has done.
Rudy Pilous had to wonder about the same thing in the 1960s. Certainly Hugh Lehman, who presided over a 21-game stretch in which his Hawks went 3-17-1 in 1927, must have pondered it too.
Consistent effort is what often separates average players from good players and good ones from great ones.
“There are always five or six guys who aren’t putting out,” Savard said Saturday, one day after the Hawks lost 3-1 to Nashville for their 10th consecutive loss.
“I work them, I show them, I talk to them, but it has to come from within that locker room. As a coach you get tuned out if you keep harping on stuff. We need everybody playing hard and playing good.”
Savard said it’s not the same five or six players every night who float through games–which might be a bigger problem. If it were the same players, they would be easier to identify and dispatch in the off-season.
Savard suggested the media should hold players more accountable.
“Why don’t you ask them?” he said. “Why is it always about (owner Bill) Wirtz or about (GM Dale) Tallon or the coaches all the time? I’m not upset. [The media] has a job to do. You give it to me, that’s fine.”
One reason the front office, led by the general manager, gets the heat is because it is responsible for assembling the team.
Front offices need to recognize the players who have talent and desire and separate them from the ones who constantly tease you with their ability before disappointing you. Though pros seldom undergo major transformations during their careers, some teams believe they can see in players something other teams don’t and can push that magic button.
In the end, though, there is a reason players such as Denis Arkhipov are considered journeymen.
“Arkhipov played great for two, three weeks, then he goes away for two, three games and comes back. Why?” Savard said. “Everyone has to be playing consistently. I’ll motivate him, but there are only certain buttons I can push. It has to come from within.”
Add a half-dozen inconsistent players on a roster, and it’s enough to cause a team to spin its wheels constantly.
“Some of our veterans have been on other teams and are on a one-year deal,” Savard said. “They have to make a choice what they want to do. If you’re playing on a team that hasn’t had success, something has to be done.”
It doesn’t help Savard’s psyche much that during his Hall of Fame career he displayed that self-motivation night after night to go along with world-class skill.
“Where are you going to find a better life [than in the NHL]?” he said. “Nowhere. I know. I lived it. Inside it hurts me, big time.
“But I’m going to work like a son of a gun, and I’m going to be positive and keep working. If I have to push buttons, I’ll push buttons again.”
And, like every coach before him, he will end up being frustrated, usually more often than not. It’s the nature of the business.
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rfoltman@tribune.com
