Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but it isn’t always the best way to win a Stanley Cup.
The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Final with a lethal combination of talent and speed. Focusing on speed isn’t exactly a new approach in the NHL, but the Penguins and their blueprint for success is one that’s already being talked about by teams who failed to reach their ultimate goal.
As teams look to mimic the Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers have made it publicly known that they have no intention of copying. Flyers GM Ron Hextall cautioned about copying another team’s model for success.
Via CSN Philly:
“The one thing I’ve learned over the years is you have to be very careful being a copycat. When you start chasing everybody, you go away from your foundation and the very next year a team that plays a totally different style wins a Cup.
So you’ve got to be careful there. You’ve got to believe what you believe in, stick to your foundation and make little adjustments rather than flip from black to white. Pitt’s got a good team.”
Hextall’s overall thought is right on the money, but Penguins fans should have plenty of fun poking fun at this one. The Flyers haven’t won the Cup since 1975 and have lost their last six appearances in the Stanley Cup Final (1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997 and 2010). They’ve built some great teams, but obviously something has been lacking. Meanwhile, the Penguins have won titles in 2009 and 2016.
As more and more teams follow the Penguins and their blueprint for success, that blueprint becomes less and less valuable. The true value lies in innovation and finding a way to defeat the most popular systems in the league. Speed has proved to be extremely effective in the NHL because so many teams are still trying to transition away from slower, grinding styles of play. Eventually a new tactic will emerge and teams will copy that one too and so on and so on.
There’s an old expression that says great minds think alike. That’s wrong. The Genie from Aladdin said it best in an old short cartoon series from the late 90’s: “Great minds think for themselves!“
