Chemistry can make or break team

There is this matter of chemistry in sports. It is as hard to nail down as trying to catch an invisible gnat in a jar and as varied as the roots of a giant oak, but it exists.

Chemistry, or the lack thereof, was part of the undoing of two very good NHL teams in this year’s playoffs: the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avs.

Dave Lewis has coached Detroit for the past two seasons with much success. They were good enough to have the best record in the league this year.

Yet, they lost in the first round of last year’s playoffs and in the second this year. There were mumblings throughout the last two years that indicated the chemistry was not there.

Brett Hull was not happy with how his ice time was being managed by Lewis and his staff. It was more than wanting to play more, it was when he was playing and with whom.

More than one Red Wing said the continual line changes and power-play combinations, even if there were injuries, never gave the team a chance to settle down and find itself, even with all its wins.

Captain Steve Yzerman reportedly went to Lewis in the playoffs and told him special team units had to be held together for the sake of success.

Then there was the bar. During the first round of the playoffs this year, Lewis and assistant coach Joey Kocur opened a bar, they being the owners, in Detroit. Red Wing management was not impressed.

Why would they open a bar then, when their full concentration needed to be on winning the Stanley Cup? Why would a head coach go into business with an assistant, creating the possibility of business riffs that would carry over to their coaching jobs?

Detroit management wondered and so did the players. All this became part of little and big things that negated that thing called chemistry. Through it all, Lewis coached without a new contract.

In Colorado, they had loaded up with talent for a Cup drive this year. It never clicked. Constant injuries to key players were part of the problem, but there was more.

The rumblings in Denver were about coach Tony Granato. Having no previous coaching experience, did he know how to run a bench even though he had a long career in the NHL? Many of his players didn’t think so.

Some of the players acquired this year said they never felt a part of the team. They complained that Granato had his favorites and those he constantly dumped on. One veteran with the Avs said he didn’t know how some of the newer veteran players could handle what he viewed as demeaning treatment.

There were comments from players, not for attribution, that captain Joe Sakic went to the general manager this year and said a coaching change was necessary if the team was to be successful. No change occurred.

All year the rumblings mounted and the irritations built up within a talented hockey team. Granato coached without a new contract. The chemistry was not there.

Were the concerns legitimate in each case? Was it a matter of egos? How deep did the issues go within the organizations?

Rarely does the public ever really find out. These are big businesses not about to air their dirty laundry in public. What we see is a lack of chemistry that remains strikingly indefinable, but clearly present.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.