It’s often the way that when a team that’s been at a high level for a long time falls into decline, almost all the players lose form and start to look bad at the same time. It’s not one or two, or just some depth players, it tends to be everybody. Loss of rhythm and confidence is infectious.
And that’s the Bruins at the moment. Amongst the guys who are carry overs from last year’s roster, only Beecher and Swayman are playing anywhere close to their ability. Hampus Lindholm has probably been ok too. That’s it. From Pasta to young Poitras, it’s a struggle across the board. Same goes for the coach. Two years of over-achieving, now looks near-clueless.
A bad, listless outing by a team that’s only falling deeper into a hole, but I’m not changing my tune. No need for knee jerk reactions. Get to Thanksgiving or so and then we’ll see where things are at that point. Can’t be complacent, but shouldn’t panic either. Both the coaching group and the players have to know now that they’re not remotely close to the mark in most areas. We’re beyond just bad puck luck or simply waiting for things to gel. So revise and simplify the game plan, get the players to have a good hard look at themselves and where they’re at, see who actually wants to take charge in the locker room and make a difference, try and get some collective buy in and see what happens in the next 2-3 weeks. They turn things around then happy days, if not, well there may be some hard decisions to be made. Just not yet, IMO.