Taking One For The Team

The General Manager for the Nashville Predators hockey team recently suspended two of their star players because they had stayed out past curfew the night before a playoff game. The decision raised eyebrows given that the goal of every team in the National Hockey League is to reach the postseason playoffs and give themselves a fighting chance to win the Stanley Cup. It would be one thing if the League suspended a player for a rule infraction such as an illegal hit. But this was the General Manager taking the unusual step of suspending his own players. To do this at such a critical time during the playoffs was sending a powerful message. What was that message?

In providing his rationale, the GM emphasized the importance of respecting the rule of never putting the individual before the team: In breaking the rule on curfew, these players had put themselves as individuals in front of the team as a whole. The suspension was a way of reinforcing this message and the players in question heard the message loud and clear. They understood that hockey is a team sport and that their actions had let their team down. They apologized for their mistake.

This message of being part of a team resonates with me in relation to The Killer Trail. That is because Chris Ryder laments the fact that he is letting down his colleagues in the social work department at the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry. He fears that his personal trials and tribulations involving Ray Owens have become a distraction at his workplace, and that his spotty attendance at work is resulting in his colleagues having to pick up his slack. In a poignant scene, Chris attends a team meeting to apologize for his actions. I’ll leave it at that in terms of the reaction Chris receives from his colleagues, except to say that his role as part of a team is reinforced.

You could say that at some level we are all part of a team, striving for the balance between our individual interests and the interests of our larger ‘team’.