Randy Carlyle’s revamping of the Leafs dressing room
By Cam Charron
11 years ago
Lost in the controversy surrounding one Sun TV idiot’s comments about Randy Carlyle’s revamping of the Toronto Maple Leaf dressing room is any sort of discussion on how good of an idea it is.
No, adding a few motivational posters isn’t going to be the difference between the Leafs’ going from a 13th place team to a 6th place team, but the club is in an extraordinarily unique situation generating the highest revenues in a salary cap system.
I’ve talked earlier this summer about the Leafs needing to find creative ways to out-spend the opposition. Non-hockey revenue isn’t capped, although it was reportedly part of the NHL players’ proposal to the owners as a cost-cutting suggestion.
The Leafs’ dressing room is getting a makeover this summer, complete with some special touches from new coach Randy Carlyle.The dressing room was considered a fairly modern place when it opened with the Air Canada Centre in 1999, but coach Randy Carlyle believes you can impact your team’s mentality through the atmosphere.As such, Carlyle is working with an interior designer to upgrade the dressing room, including better carpets, new ceilings, brighter lights and some fancy murals on the wall.
Carlyle apparently “just thought the room looked dark and tired in places“.
Now, perhaps new carpeting and ceilings and lightning don’t go far enough. If you have the money, you may as well reinvigorate the room that makes visiting players extraordinarily jealous and make minor-league players want to stick. How about a massage chair in every stall or heated toilets? Perhaps a limousine for every player coming to and from the rink.
You may as well spend to excess.
Carlyle taking this initiative is admirable. You may recall that he was a driving force behind the Leafs signing Jay McClement, and perhaps there was another player he had in mind that the Leafs missed out on because the atmosphere of the locker room was preferable somewhere else. These aren’t the priorities of many players, but as long as you have the money to improve the overall team culture, you may as well.
But don’t take it from me, take it from the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that went from worst to first in the toughest division in baseball. A lot of that credit is given to manager Joe Maddon. From Jonah Keri’s analysis of the Rays, The Extra 2%:
It’s in that last area, interacting with players, that Maddon receives the most glowing reviews. Soon after taking the manager’s job with the Rays, Maddon posted a series of motivational and philosophical quotes throughout the clubhouse for players to read—a natural progression from his “I Got Loud” catchphrase as a minor league instructor.RULES CANNOT TAKE THE PLACE OF CHARACTER.
—Alan GreenspanINTEGRITY HAS NO NEED OF RULES.
—Albert CamusDISCIPLINE YOURSELF SO NO ONE ELSE HAS TO.
—John WoodenTo inspire his players and bring them together, Maddon has concocted slogans for every season.The Rays are a model organization. They manage to survive on a limited budget, with a terrible stadium deal in the middle of a suburb of a city that doesn’t care about baseball. It’s all about looking for little advantages and working in the margins to give the team a 51-49 advantage or a 52-48 advantage.So, kudos to Randy Carlyle.
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