The game changes but the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are here to stay. It's the difference between Good and Great, it's what separates a Success from a Mob-Mentality Hating, it's subtle and without metric and so elusive. Teams who have it, have everything, teams without it are forever in survival mode. It's a team's dynamic, their attitude, their strategy, and ultimately their identity. And until a club grabs hold of theirs, the NHL will be a cruel playground. It's called the Franchise Factor and it's the essence that brings a team to life.
the Cup-Chaser
Everyone wants to skate with the Cup-Chasers - sold out arenas, fans drowning in apparel, big contracts with whispers of bonuses floating through the dressing room, a second season from April to June, and ultimately a chance at pure Glory. These teams are making magic night in, night out, and despite their consistency, there seems to be an element of surprise associated with their power of complete domination. No one needs to talk about their defensive strategy, or their execution of Systems, or how they set up on the breakout; the Cup-Chasers have that extra quality that means no game is ever out of reach, that the powerplay goal is a matter of 'when' not 'if', and that they truly 'play' hockey instead of robotically implement a reflection of drills.
With the post-season just around the corner, Chicago and Washington and Pittsburgh are heavy-hitters swinging for the Stanley Cup fences, and they are all three prime examples of teams that put together a long-term strategy and didn't crack under the pressure of quick-draw critics. They sold the Old and tracked down youth. Now putting out top lines made up of the world's best, these teams aren't just 2010 Cup-Chasers, they are dynasty contenders skating young bodies and wise minds.
Only a few years ago, the better part of this season's division champs were out of the playoff race before the all-star break. A handful of draft picks later, and after a couple clever investments logged in the books, they aren't just clawing their way into 8th spot, these teams are resting their top guns the last week and a half of Regulation in order to be firing come round 1. With strong Franchise Factors, the Cup-Chasers aren't distracted with patching up a leaky boat game after game, they just race the seas throughout the season and maintain their ship when they're docked for the summer.
a Team Out-of-Order
But there's not enough room in either conference or any division for a full league of Blackhawks, or Capitals, or Penguins; with every draft pick, retirement, trade, injury, hiring, firing, win, loss, and missed call, there is a change in the league that ripples through each team, demonstrating how alive the NHL is. Franchise Factor or not, the unexpected can introduce plenty of destructive chaos. Some teams have to bite the bullet and keep company with the Edmontons, Torontos, and Floridas of the world. It's the ability to take a step back, make calculated decisions, and respect the exchange of a Temporary Set-Back for the long-term consistency of layered success. No team should strive for their 'one shot' at the expense of building up their foundation. When an NHL team begins to struggle and locks in a few bad seasons, it's like an injury. And like any significant injury, you have to treat a string of 'playoff misses' or 'disappointing seasons' with more than just a little ice and tape, more than just a little 3rd-line player swap, you need rest and rehab and a new game plan. The best hockey in the world doesn't have room for broken-but-bandaged teams. Injured NHL teams need to hit the reset button and take the time to regain their strength; they need to suck before they don't again.
TBA
In my opinion if you're not a contender and you're not stripping down and rebuilding, then you are wasting your time, and cruelly torturing your fan base. This is where the TBAs come in. These lost cause squads that lack in direction and promise are stuck in no-mans land, chasing the Chasers and pretending that they don't need to Start-Over; an empty future of 9th and 10th place finishes that gives no hope to a post season run beyond a first round in-and-out. Queue up the Flames, St. Louis, the Rangers, and Dallas; what's the plan? Who's guiding these sail-less ships? You have to respect the process and quite gambling on the quick fix.
I can respect being Out-of-Order, it's the nature of the business, the cycle of life in the NHL. What I can't understand is a team that has decided to sit on the fence and duck the big-boy decisions. Everyone who 'just barely missed the post-season' or hangs on for a game or two extra in the opening round before being benched on the couch to watch the real teams battle it out, they have three options. The first, and most mechanical, is to realize that asking for four cards is not an option - Just Fold. It takes commitment and character and perseverance, but the basement is where the Ovechkin, Kane, Crosby, and Tavares style draft picks are. Embrace change. Do not fear momentary setbacks. Holding onto pricy vets, on cruise control into an honorable retirement isn't going to guarantee anything. Option one is to gut the team and hit the reset button.
The second option is tricky and can't be pulled off by just any old GM big-wig. It asks for strategy and insight, a whole lot of hockey knowledge, and enough risk to make a day-trader think twice. It's like refueling Airforce-1, mid-air, during a terror strike. This is the Detroit Red Wings model. You need to buy low and sell high and make your moves before anyone else is even paying attention. Trade like you mean it. It is possible to slowly change your team, one player at a time, over the course of several years, without ever letting the Stanley Cup finals out of your sight, but the big brains need to be working extra hard and you need to find those hidden gems like a 171st overall entry draft pick Pavel Datsyuk or swap for an up-and-comer like Rene Bourque. It's the better of the two approaches, but it's much more than just one nice maneuver followed by dozens of bad plays; it isn't for the Painting-by-numbers crowd.
Option 3 is a disaster. It's the definition of the TBA, and it optimizes a damaged Franchise Factor. It's ignoring the severity of the problem and attempting to avoid rebuilding, while failing to wheel and deal, and yet still claiming to be after the playoff wins. Option 3 is the equivalent of a dozen busy McDonalds employees, racing around behind the counter, doing absolutely nothing, while the line of customers continues to grow. It looks like everyone is doing their job, but in reality it could take days before anyone gets to your order. Plus even then, you're getting McDonalds! Option 3 creeps up on you and before you know it the team starts to feel empty and without a soul. It could be a revolving door of coaches that are hired quickly and sent on their way before they've even been fitted for a track suit and whistle. Maybe it's an annual pattern of 'renting a player' for the playoff push, some 'wily old vet', full of experience and character, only to see them in a new jersey by September and the team back to square Zero. Maybe it's using pure, dangling talent as a forth line grinder (You don't forget the epic calamities - I will never get over the Flames brilliant idea to have Marc Savard logging 7 minutes a game on the checking line), or watching as a player's stock plummets before selling them a year and a half too late, for 5 and a half pucks (At one point Phaneuf was being called the best defensemen in the league and was in young all-star company with Ovi and Sid... the Flames dished him off after he had hit rock bottom, bounced up and back down two or three times, and finally settled into a comfortable little niche of 'Awful'). Other signs are when one great player is all that the club can afford, so they spend years nickel and dimming to scrounge up 'the perfect linemates' only to have to scrounge up new 'perfect linemates' a few months later and a few months after that, and so on (Iginla doesn't need to have Crosby and Nash, but something more than 'nothing' and we might see that same gold medal performance that Iggy had in Vancouver - the Flames are starving this poor bastard). The Flames love Option 3, they always have, and the tragedy is that they don't even know it. They need to start manning up and getting their hands dirty, otherwise all the fans will ever have to talk about is the '89 Cup Win, and the 2004 Red Mile drive, and that's about it. Don't make me bring up the rushed shipment of the 'Too Small Martin St. Louis', or the inspired Doug Gilmore release, or that brief moment when Brett Hull wore a flame on his jersey - I don't forgive or forget because nothing has changed, Calgary is shooting first and forgetting to ask questions later. 
The game may change, the players may change, but the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly will always be the standard NHL breakdown, because it's the standard sports breakdown, and the standard life breakdown. It's how people operate. Call it a Franchise Factor, call it Character, call it Value, call it a Gameplan, people need to have an idea of who they are in order to have the freedom to live in the moment. Without some idea of where you want to go and how you need to get there, you will be cursed with the repetitive cycle of mediocrity. I can wait for Edmonton and Carolina, because I know that that is what leads to Washington's offensive attacks, Chicago's powerplays, San Jose's top line chemistry, and Pittsburgh's highlights. No one remembers average, be a Cup-Chaser, even if you need to toss up the Out-of-Order sign for a bit.
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