The Gustav Effect GM Edition

[Brrbisbrr 207]

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                     Davos Hockey Weekly

 

 

       The season started out on a tumultuous note for HC Davos.  The VHL board of governors, unhappy with the state of the franchise, decided to make a change in ownership.  Shawn Glade was fired and Gustav Mattias brought in.  Some say it was because of yet another rebuild, but I think it was for other reasons.  The Davos locker room was a graveyard.  Players would show up just to change clothes.  There was no camaraderie, no strategic discussion, or even any fighting.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, Davos had spent the past season in the cellar while Shawn traded away Davos’s franchise goalie,  Finn Davison.  Davison’s backup, Samuel Ross, had been missing from the team for most of the season.  Gustav certainly had his hands full.

 

            If you look at the standings now, certainly 6-8-5 with the worst goal differential in the VHL is not enough to impress on it’s own merit.  When you consider what Gustav inherited, however, it looks rather impressive.  Davos is now in the mix for a playoff spot, although rather early, and playing better than hockey than they have a right to be.  Davos is starting to some positive notice around the league as well.  A lot of murmuring about how “Davos will make the playoffs on overtime losses alone” seem to be on the lips of players and executives alike.  How did it get this way?  How did Davos move from it’s laughing stock reputation?  Maybe it is too early to tell, but it seems like the Gustav effect has hit Davos.

The first thing that Gustav did was revive the locker room.  Through various team building exercises Davos became a closer unit.  He also opened up the practice facility to more press to show how morale had changed.  Samuel Ross explains,  “A lot of players were tentative at first.  It’s always a little uncomfortable when someone knew takes over.  Gustav explained everything and was completely honest.  It also helps that he handed out some bonuses and extensions.”

 

            Speaking of Ross, Gustav brought him back to the team.  Ross explains how, “Some of it was timing.  It just so happens that when I got out of the hospital and hopped in the locker room there were some rumblings of a change.  Shawn had let us know that he was being removed and that he would let us know who would take over.  I had seen Gustav around, but didn’t really know him, so it wasn’t a situation where I was glad to see someone removed.  You never want to see a guy lose their job.”  Since coming back, Ross in on pace to have career years in goals against average and save percentage.

 

          The biggest turnaround seems to be the honesty and availability of Gustav Mattias.  After acknowledging how everyone felt, he didn’t shy away from addressing how he was promoted.  He admitted that this was not the way he wanted to be promoted.  Instead of taking the locker room with bravado, an iron fist dictatorship that would have sank the team further in despair, he took an honest friendly approach. He reassured everyone that while this year may be tough, we are here to build.  He backed up that talk by offering extensions to everyone.

Will Davos stay in the playoff hunt?  Probably not.  Will Gustav win GM of the year?  Probably not.  That’s not to discount what he has done to turn a franchise around in such a short time.  Davos looks like they’re trending skyward for the first time in a few seasons thanks to the Gustav effect.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Brrbisbrr

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