After having made a comparison between how Jacques Martin handled a young Jason Spezza and how he might handle a young P.K. Subban the other day, I decided that with the Ottawa Senators in town I may as well go to the source and see what he thought about his early years in the NHL.
What I learned is that Spezza didn't particularly want to ruffle any feathers.
He insists he learned a valuable lesson playing under Martin for his first two years in the NHL, and it's a lesson that most coaches try to teach their young players.
"I think you have to let your players be creative, but it also has to be based around a team structure," Spezza told me Saturday morning, hours before putting up two assists in a losing effort against the Canadiens. "I think it's a philosophy that most coaches follow."
Indeed they do, but they have different ways of communicating that philosophy.
Playoff snub was difficult, but taught a lesson
Spezza's first season was spent on a yo-yo bouncing between Binghamton and Ottawa. When he was cut coming out of training camp Martin infamously told reporters, "This is a man's league, and he's still a boy."
Spezza says he didn't take that experience too badly because of the unique circumstances of him being drafted second overall to a contending team, the pick being included along with Zdeno Chara in the trade that sent Alexei Yashin to the Islanders.
"I knew that I was on a good team that had a chance to win," Spezza said, "so it was a different role than someone coming into an expansion team."
The next year Spezza spent the whole season in Ottawa, but was scratched for the first two and last two games of the playoffs, a seven-game elimination at the hands of the Maple Leafs that ultimately cost Martin his job.
"That was tough," Spezza said of the playoff snub. "I had played all year and felt I could have helped the team out, so to get scratched in the playoffs was tough. But you learn from it, you grow from it. Then after that there was a coaching change so it never really became much of anything."
"Just play."
That coaching change brought current Senators GM Bryan Murray behind the bench, and after Spezza spent a year lighting it up in the AHL during the lockout he put up 90 points in only 68 games in his first year under Murray.
I happened to cross paths with Murray on Saturday just before the game and asked him what kind of message he relayed to Spezza as far as his expectations were concerned.
"I don't think I said anything special," Murray said. "I just told him to go out and play. Just play. Try to help out defensively as much as you can, but just play your game."
So why this history lesson on the Senators? Because it appears that with Subban and Lars Eller there may be a similar situation evolving here with Martin in that they are young players trying to crack a team that considers itself to be a contender.
Before going on, it should be noted just what Martin accomplished with that Senators team, one that was chock full of young, talented players that he helped develop.
Daniel Alfredsson was a 22-year-old rookie when Martin took over the Senators halfway through the 1995-96 season, Yashin was only 21 but in his third year in the league and Radek Bonk was only 19. In the years to come Martin would welcome players like Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Wade Redden, Chris Phillips and Mike Fisher into the fold.
The tough love approach Martin used with Spezza and appears to be using with Eller worked in each one of those cases, so to say he doesn't know how to handle young players would clearly be wrong. You may not agree with his methods in those dealings, and the players themselves may not necessarily like it, but it's undeniable that Martin has a proven track record when it comes to developing solid, two-way NHL players.
When Hossa entered the league he was considered a one-dimensional offensive player, and under Martin he became an elite scorer and penalty-killer.
While coaching in Florida, Martin had youngsters Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss, Jay Bouwmeester and David Booth playing for him. It could be argued that Horton and Weiss have under-achieved, but they are both legitimate top-six NHL forwards.
Development vs. winning
That is ultimately what Martin is trying to create in Eller, except he's doing it in the context of a team coming off an appearance in the Eastern Conference final, one that believes it can improve on that result even if no one else does.
While explaining his decision to bench Eller on Saturday, Martin said, "In this league, we're in the business of winning hockey games."
Sometimes, unfortunately, that business model doesn't mesh well with the principles of player development.
Martin was clear that Eller will get other chances to show he's buying in to the coach's philosophy of solid play away from the puck and that he likes the "dimension" he brings. It appears Subban will also be permitted to play through his mistakes this season as he continues his search for that abstract line between dynamic and reckless play.
But what I think is just as clear, and Martin's history with Spezza supports this, is that winning will come before teaching on game days.