I am making my return today to the HF boards. I had to take a leave of absence due to work related issues. They have not been solved but I decided I could no longer watch and suffer in silence.
I had hoped our team would had a better year this year but it was a typical year and usual story. It's a good thing that we got rid of that Dorion and the team cheerleader DJ Smith.
You know I was thinking about this and It crossed my mind what's wrong with this team. We have a lot of the pieces and we should be competing.
Bringing JM back was a smart move but obviously he can't work miracles overnight.
We do have a better defense and for the most part we have three good lines. However, it seems like only two lines are ever healthy.
So I asked myself just like everyone else is asking. Is this a team culture thing. I started to consider that this could be the issue. It's a logical and rational answer to the problems. However, after really thinking about it, I think it's just the easiest scapegoat for this team.
I think if there's one thing we've seen is that this team plays for each other and that's a positive culture. I think everyone supports each other in a really positive fashion in. Everyone wants the best from each other and somewhat pushes each other to be better. They seem to lift each other up when one is down and have that next man up mentality. I am not going to play into the culture card. These guys are way too young and their attitudes are just being shaped.
I must say I am tired of making excuses for them but I am going to make some excuses but I also am going to make some suggestions to fix those excuses.
We had master motivator and professional cheerleader. DJ Smith, their pee-wee hockey coach who was definitely coaching above his skill set and while motivating people works when you need to get over hump. It's not a long-term solution to guys who are new to the league and need to be developed in many different areas of their professional career. We all knew he was the wrong guy to get this team to the next level. So nobody's debating that. I think where some of the problem was is they lost their favorite teacher and some guys may have pouted and some guys actually were probably upset that we ended up back in the same position of another season killed before it ever got started. The next coach we bring in needs to be an experienced coach that has the right characteristics to take this team to the next level and is an ex and nose and a teacher guy. We need the next JM or the next Brian Murray or whoever to take this to and get them into the playoffs and competing every year for the cup.
P.D. oh my god, we waited for this guy to get fired for so long. Then he starts making some desperate moves at the end. That kind of give you some hope because he was trying a couple moves worked out and the rest did it. He knew the writing was on the wall and he did everything he could do to save his behind. The scary part is is that if you wasn't fired the way he had constructed this roster, he did not have much left to work with or assets. Good riddance.
I don't know if Staios Is the answer either as he is a rookie GM and he is going to get fleeced then taught lessons of the hard way. We don't know if he has great hockey sense or not or whatever he seems to be sharper than Dorion was but only time will tell. I think however he's got to pick either GM or President not both. That's just my two cents on it.
I actually would have preferred to see him be a little busier on trade deadline day getting rid of some of the dead weight, but at the end of the day how many people are lining up for one of the last place teams misfits. I can't imagine there were many calls for our fourth liners.
Now comes the time when nobody's got anything left to lose and everyone in the league knows we are the bottom feeders. So the win's should start piling up now when they're meaningless and screw our draft position. I would like to see this change. Actually. There's none of this playing for next year junk that we go through every year. This year is dead and buried. We're just going through the emotions of finishing the season off. If we finish the season without a loss in regulation, it won't mean a thing next year. Not a single thing. What will mean a lot is if we draft higher. How about a nice top draft pick? We can either use that too. Turn into a good player or trade for a useful peace on this roster.
So I don't believe there is a culture problem here. But what there was was a culture of wrong decisions and mismanagement by the GM and the coach. Bringing in the wrong players and making cheap moves at every turn. We filled this organization with whatever we could nickel and dime and put together on a shoestring budget and cried about mediocrity because we had a poor owner. That whole mentality has ran through the entire organization from top to bottom and I'm sure players know it as well too. So yes, there is maybe a bit of a culture issue, but the culture of losing and making excuses is probably the culture issue we are having versus the players. Although, if you want to ask if there's a culture problem among the players, well, they're actually is a culture problem among the players that we have a bunch of guys who probably should not be playing in the NHL. If they belong in the NHL and they're so great, why are we at the bottom of the standings? We have a lot of driftwood on this team or dead weight or whatever you want to call it or players who are just not a good match for us.
We also have brought in some players who were bad fits and bad signings. We know who they are or at least I think I do and we got a whole summer to call them out and make changes. We've been running with the same group of these players for too long and getting the same result. We're not going into a new rebuild or a retooling. We're getting rid of the dead weight. These are guys who are not part of the core and we're not part of the long-term plan and are replaceable. That being said, they're also is some players on this team that were looked as part of the solution but are no longer that and they need to be sent packing as well too.
This roster is full of holes. It's been constructed by a madman. We have a core of good pieces and we do not have the proper supporting cast to help them excel. We basically have too many of the same type of player. Now is the time to start bringing in specific type of players and character players and certain skilled players that we need. It's very evident now of what we're lacking where before we were lacking everything. We need a real fourth line. We need more grit. We need veteran help. We need a real third pairing defense. We have what feels like a good defense but there is a lack of stay-at-home defense first mentality and players willing to play physical. We also are asking players to play physical that is not in their DNA. Guy's are trying to play bigger than their size and while they're doing their best trying to do it, it is not who they are. We keep trying to make do with what we have and what we need to be doing is get what we actually need. It's hard to fill out a roster with all of your needs exactly, but that's where we're at right now. That's where we're failing. It is not going to happen overnight. People are not going to trade for these key pieces because we're getting to the point where these are the type of players that every team need. We're going to have to give up some good players to get some better players. It's a good thing that we have some really good assets and maybe in abundance of a certain type of player that we probably could use as an asset to fill another hole.
I am not even going to comment on the goaltending situation at all. Save that rank for a whole other day.
We survived
Our Harold Ballard of the Senators and the crazy GM and at the end of the day we still have a really good core. All is not lost and the sky is not falling. We can't right the wrongs overnight. All I know is we are not going to have to wait as long as the Maple leaf's to win a Stanley Cup.
Sorry for the super long post but I have not had a chance to express my feelings about the Senators to anybody here in L.A.
