If the Ottawa Senators are going to snap a seven-year playoff drought this season, it will be because they’ve discovered how to stay focused and play consistently throughout games and the season.
But if you look (and listen) around the league, the need for consistency seems to be everyone’s mantra now.
As the Philadelphia Flyers prepare to face the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday night, Flyers head coach John Tortorella engaged in a thoughtful discussion with reporters about why so many NHL teams today tend to struggle with consistency.
First, Tortorella suggested it’s hard to be consistent when there are no easy games in a league overflowing with parity. But it’s more than that. He thinks the players are different now, suggesting that their concentration and readiness aren’t what they once were.
“Different athletes (today). It’s a different game,” Tortorella told reporters when asked about the notion of consistency.
“My thought is that it comes down to individual athletes always trying to keep themselves ready to play each and every game, and then bringing that into a group. That’s (the coaches’) job: to bring it into a group. I think with athletes, it just comes and goes. I think it comes and goes way too quickly with today’s athlete. And I think that has something to do with it.”
Clearly, this wouldn’t be the first time the outspoken Tortorella complained about “these kids today.” But it’s easy to imagine a lot of Senators fans nodding their heads right now, hearing his theory and wondering if that’s been the issue in Ottawa.
The keys to the Sens kingdom were handed over awfully early to a very young core. While today’s young players are ultra-talented, maybe they lack the in-game and seasonal focus of their veteran counterparts.
All that said, at 6-8-2, Tortorella isn’t even at the stage yet of worrying about consistency. That’s the next step.
“We’re just trying to get there. And I think the past week or so, we have found our identity a little bit. I think when you find the identity, you have something to shoot for every game. And I think that’ll help the consistency. We’re not there yet to be consistent.”
On the other hand, after what we saw in their past two games, the Ottawa Senators absolutely are.
