“He epitomizes what you’d like to have in a player,” Lamoriello said. “He’s committed to the game, he loves the game, he works at it, he plays it the right way. He competes in practice the same way he does in a game. He’s a player that I personally have tremendous respect for because he does everything the right way and maximizes whatever his talents are. And they’re pretty good.”
Lou Lamoriello said this about Zach Parise in this NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5488324/2024/05/13/avalanche-stars-parise-suter-nhl-playoffs/
We can see he looks for commitment, love, work, and play in players. And he is talent agnostic— he prefers talent over incompetence in any case. I think this is where we see the crossroads of imposing on players learning the ‘right way’ we lose the frame of talents, players’ having a proper relationship with their individual abilities and allowing them space to foster them.
“At the end of this series, the two former faces of the Wild franchise will meet in the handshake line. One will be one step closer to his Stanley Cup dream. The other will be crushed.
But their friendship will steer them through that moment.
“Well, either way, obviously if we win, I’m sure he’ll wish me luck and if they would win, then I would obviously wish him good luck,” said Suter. “You want to win, but if you can’t, you want your buddy to win, too.”
Wishing for themselves and their opponents to win is a rare approach. To foster the growth of the friendship. That’s a rare orientation. Win-win.