We are such a bizarre and puzzling team. I literally don’t understand what we are.
I don't either. The club is impossible to explain in any logical way (as are the decisions of its brain-trust).
Last season, they were doing it with regulation wins and didn't need cheap points in overtime. Now this season, they're basically a non-playoff team except for overtime points.
Two years ago, the club had one of the best offensive attacks in recent memory. Now, with eight (soon to be nine) ex-30 goal scorers in the line-up (far more than back in '23), they can't score.
The penalty-kill randomly shifts from all-time, historically great (last playoffs) to League-worst trainwreck, over long stretches. For no apparent reason.
The defence, likewise.
At least the goaltending is fairly consistently below-par.
At the end of the day, I just feel that core players like Nuge and Nurse and whoever the goaltenders might be are just too erratic, unpredictable, and inconsistent for the club to ever have any reliable depth beyond the obvious two guys (one of whom has declined since May 2023).
(Incidentally, I personally feel the club peaked around spring 2023, which I think was better than the 2024 team. I think 2023 was the best team we've had since 1990, but it lost to Vegas in six games... partly thanks to a ref making an incorrect call on Broberg from 100 feet away that turned the series in game five... but don't get me started.)