I don't really think this is accurate - I think it's looking at the thing that's happening because it's the thing that's happening and ignoring that the core of the team is largely the same guys as last season. Yeah, that team set a record for franchise wins, but the danger is thinking that's the thing to get back to. I'd rather Fitzgerald look forward, rather than backward. Do I love getting more physical? No, but also I saw how Florida won the Stanley Cup, and it wasn't by playing an uptempo, slick offensive game. They had elements of that obviously but they were also playing quite physical.
I agree with a lot of this. I'm with you that I'd rather Fitz look forward than backward. He should be proactive, not reactive. Which is why I'm fine moving on from Holtz and Schmid, if you don't have a spot for them year then why bother hanging on? Just rip the band-aid off and get it over with.
I just think that these attempts to plug certain holes are opening up larger, more valuable holes elsewhere. 18 months ago we had surplus talent, now we're having trouble icing a full top-12. This didn't happen over night, we've slowly been bleeding skill for a bit now. We're getting slower and more simple, and I don't think that's the right direction to go in after committing to Jack, Nico, and Bratt as the core.
I'm not expecting +50 wins every year. I'm fine with getting more physical, but getting "harder to play against" shouldn't come at the cost of what made you a great team. It looks to me like they're banking way, way too hard on Jack carrying this forward group and I just think that's a losing strategy.