Sometimes it's hard for guys like connor and drai to buy in when they have a strong opinion of their own identity. They see themselves as Art ross/rocket richard trophy winners etc so it seems silly to them to have that defend first mentality and increase their chances of not getting on the score sheet or only collecting 1 point a night for stretches. Sometimes you have to suck it up and play with the cards you're dealt. This team would be much better if they bought in fully and lead that way. Not cheat, spend more energy defending and working out to the offence as a five man unit instead of floating around ready to get a big jump on the opposing D AND your own D and trying to do it as a 3 player forward unit instead of a full 5 player unit.
The funny thing is i think they'd actually be doing much better even on the score sheet if they bought in, grind it out offensively and defensively and not cheat/take short cuts but it's not registering in their brains. It's like they go thorugh a game or two where they maybe bought in a bit more and it didn't work out great on the score sheet so they lose resiliency and stick to it ness and abandon playing the right way. They don't realize it could take a week or more to grind it out and finally find that game playing the right way. It almost parallels what my gf tells me about her teaching of high school math. Kids now give up so easily in the face of adversity. they don't understand how to do the math and they flat out get frustrated, pout and give up. It's a big reason for the complete s*** grades our kids are getting in school.
