Not a good puck retrieval team, not a great zone entry team, poor back checking, bad defensive team, few guys who stand up for each other. The accountability and “just work harder” routine gets old when there’s not much semblance of successful structures or schemes anywhere on the ice. The roster may lack depth but it’s not as Panarin, Zib, Strome, Chytil, Buch, Kreider, Fast, Lemieux are a bunch of AHLers after the first two. There’s no chemistry, not a lot of logic in the line combos, and not much structure. Preaching accountability and holding players accountable are two different things... and for a developmental coach, having different standards of accountability for different players doesn’t send the best message. When guys like Buch, Lias and DeAngelo can get in the coaches dog house but guys like Howden and Staal can’t, that’s not true accountability. Forget specifically about the handling of Andersson I don’t see why Quinn should necessarily be given the credit for guys like DeAngelo and Buch taking steps; they’re both entering their prime and young players all over the league struggle with maturity and consistency before figuring it out. I don’t know that them taking steps indicates quality player development from the coach anymore than it’s a natural progression. Guys like Chytil and Lindgren took steps this year, but isn’t that on the Hartford staff? Meanwhile guys like Lias and Howden were with the big club under Quinn’s guidance and took no steps whatsoever. So is Quinn a development coach? Or is a guy who preaches work hard and accountability but has no structure or system in place and isn’t really suited to be coaching an NHL team?
