Take captaincy away from Moreau, give it to Souray. Why? Read on....
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sport...827/story.html
Souray upset with team's performance
Past few seasons don't sit well with blue-liner
By Dan Barnes, Edmonton Journal
It turns out Sheldon Souray's training camp face, which appeared to blend irritation with discontent, actually reflects the sobering knowledge of a job done poorly.
A job lacking in professionalism. A job not finished.
He laid it all out on Wednesday morning and now we know what's up with the joyless visage and curt answers to trivial questions about breaking two panes of glass with his trademark heavy shot. While his brutally honest assessment of last year's massive team failure should stand as a condemnation of many things--including the veteran leadership group which includes him--better that it serve as a mission statement for the Edmonton Oilers going forward.
"We don't want to harp on that for sure, but we would be stupid if we didn't try to learn something from last year. That's from everyone. That's from the whole organization, top to bottom. We all have something to prove. We haven't fared very well in the last few years here with the exception of a pretty good Cup run, one year. This team and this organization doesn't have a lot to show for the last few years. I think we have a lot of work to do, a job to do to get to where we want to go. We have to be better and we have to be more professional."
It starts with attitude and his has been more obvious than most. It has also been misread. He isn't angry. He doesn't want out. He wants to lead the way Scott Stevens did in Jersey when Souray was a young pro, the way Scott Niedermayer and Claude Lemieux, Martin Brodeur, Doug Gilmour and Ken Daneyko did.
"The list for me was long of guys who could lead and when it came time to put in that hour of practice or those couple hours in a game, the 20 minutes you've got to play, no one played them harder than those guys. We've got to get back to that because we were too easy to play against and that starts with, I guess, us who have been around, the older guys. We have to set that example. If we don't do it, you can't really look at the young guys and ask them," said Souray.
The 33-year-old defenceman thought about that a moment and reconsidered, because they all can and should lead however possible, follow when appropriate.
"We've got to earn the respect of our teammates again. We're all in the same boat on that. Everyone has to pull their own weight this year and that hasn't been the case in the last little bit."
That boat was a sinking ship last year. At the helm stood former head coach Craig MacTavish, the victim of a passive mutiny. In the end, the list of players he could count on was dwarfed by those who were counting down the days. It was, as Souray put it, a "disaster before your eyes" and not enough Oilers would take ownership of it.
"Individually you've just got to be accountable to the team. There weren't enough guys doing that last year, myself included, everyone included, there is no one who is exempt from that. We all have to do a better job. We've got to learn from last year. This is probably the last time we want to talk about last year because so many things went wrong. And we're all in a fresh start and I think that's why this year has got to be a little different mentality than previous years."
That it has been written so obviously on his face speaks evenly to last year's deficiencies and this year's approach.
"It's business-like and it's professional," he stressed. "We all have to, I think, conduct ourselves that way. I think that's one of the things that got away from us a little bit last year, was a little bit of our professionalism. Things got probably a little bit loose for us last year and we want to keep it a loose group but when the time is right. Right now it's just a time for learning, taking it all in."
It is not time, as he said, for distractions or goofiness. The Oilers have been presented with a fresh message from a new coaching staff that is instituting its systems and offering clean slates all around. It is incumbent on players to embrace the message and Souray is overtly leading the way.
"Sheldon looks focused. He came to camp in very good condition and has been very business-like," said general manager Steve Tambellini.
But there is work yet to do. Head coach Pat Quinn said Wednesday his veterans must eventually stop focusing on their own situations and "care more about other people around them," referring to younger players.
Souray will surely take that to heart, because he knows the youngsters were placed in an untenable position last year; held up as saviours, denied enough support from veterans.
"We had a lot of expectations for our young guys last year and again, collectively, when things weren't happening right away for us, it shouldn't have been an excuse for older guys to let your play slide, let your professionalism slide. We all still have to hold each other accountable which we probably didn't do as great a job last year as previous years.
"To be honest, the veterans didn't do a good enough job of getting ourselves going."
Souray upset with team's performance
Past few seasons don't sit well with blue-liner
By Dan Barnes, Edmonton Journal
It turns out Sheldon Souray's training camp face, which appeared to blend irritation with discontent, actually reflects the sobering knowledge of a job done poorly.
A job lacking in professionalism. A job not finished.
He laid it all out on Wednesday morning and now we know what's up with the joyless visage and curt answers to trivial questions about breaking two panes of glass with his trademark heavy shot. While his brutally honest assessment of last year's massive team failure should stand as a condemnation of many things--including the veteran leadership group which includes him--better that it serve as a mission statement for the Edmonton Oilers going forward.
"We don't want to harp on that for sure, but we would be stupid if we didn't try to learn something from last year. That's from everyone. That's from the whole organization, top to bottom. We all have something to prove. We haven't fared very well in the last few years here with the exception of a pretty good Cup run, one year. This team and this organization doesn't have a lot to show for the last few years. I think we have a lot of work to do, a job to do to get to where we want to go. We have to be better and we have to be more professional."
It starts with attitude and his has been more obvious than most. It has also been misread. He isn't angry. He doesn't want out. He wants to lead the way Scott Stevens did in Jersey when Souray was a young pro, the way Scott Niedermayer and Claude Lemieux, Martin Brodeur, Doug Gilmour and Ken Daneyko did.
"The list for me was long of guys who could lead and when it came time to put in that hour of practice or those couple hours in a game, the 20 minutes you've got to play, no one played them harder than those guys. We've got to get back to that because we were too easy to play against and that starts with, I guess, us who have been around, the older guys. We have to set that example. If we don't do it, you can't really look at the young guys and ask them," said Souray.
The 33-year-old defenceman thought about that a moment and reconsidered, because they all can and should lead however possible, follow when appropriate.
"We've got to earn the respect of our teammates again. We're all in the same boat on that. Everyone has to pull their own weight this year and that hasn't been the case in the last little bit."
That boat was a sinking ship last year. At the helm stood former head coach Craig MacTavish, the victim of a passive mutiny. In the end, the list of players he could count on was dwarfed by those who were counting down the days. It was, as Souray put it, a "disaster before your eyes" and not enough Oilers would take ownership of it.
"Individually you've just got to be accountable to the team. There weren't enough guys doing that last year, myself included, everyone included, there is no one who is exempt from that. We all have to do a better job. We've got to learn from last year. This is probably the last time we want to talk about last year because so many things went wrong. And we're all in a fresh start and I think that's why this year has got to be a little different mentality than previous years."
That it has been written so obviously on his face speaks evenly to last year's deficiencies and this year's approach.
"It's business-like and it's professional," he stressed. "We all have to, I think, conduct ourselves that way. I think that's one of the things that got away from us a little bit last year, was a little bit of our professionalism. Things got probably a little bit loose for us last year and we want to keep it a loose group but when the time is right. Right now it's just a time for learning, taking it all in."
It is not time, as he said, for distractions or goofiness. The Oilers have been presented with a fresh message from a new coaching staff that is instituting its systems and offering clean slates all around. It is incumbent on players to embrace the message and Souray is overtly leading the way.
"Sheldon looks focused. He came to camp in very good condition and has been very business-like," said general manager Steve Tambellini.
But there is work yet to do. Head coach Pat Quinn said Wednesday his veterans must eventually stop focusing on their own situations and "care more about other people around them," referring to younger players.
Souray will surely take that to heart, because he knows the youngsters were placed in an untenable position last year; held up as saviours, denied enough support from veterans.
"We had a lot of expectations for our young guys last year and again, collectively, when things weren't happening right away for us, it shouldn't have been an excuse for older guys to let your play slide, let your professionalism slide. We all still have to hold each other accountable which we probably didn't do as great a job last year as previous years.
"To be honest, the veterans didn't do a good enough job of getting ourselves going."
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