From Jeffler's article
"The irony of this all is that, as the mainstream media, NHL executives, and more old-school fans begin to talk about how Dubas messed this all up and didn’t get enough character, defensive skill, and grit, is he gave them exactly what they wanted. The team was full of grit, physicality, leadership and experience, including players that personally eliminated the team last year, and it didn’t help anything. Kyle Dubas got cute and tried to build the premium, no-bad-contract version of a Toronto Media all star team – experience, grit, intangibles, and their golden boy winger deciding who gets to touch the puck – and has nothing to show for it now but the same heat from the same people, and a crater in his draft cupboard."
A coach who has won with creativity his entire career falling into old tropes and a sense of almost too much patience, and a manager who, as great of a modern-day boss as he shows himself to be and as creative as he can get, deviated too hard from his own process and program to try to win like everyone else."
Organizations that try to please all their critics and match perfectly with all of their opponents end up with no identity and little time dictating the storyline of their battles. When everyone gets cute, the odds of success lessen, more is left to chance, and even the most guaranteed of outcomes become jeopardized, and then, when everyone is in too deep, demolished."
Pretty much what I was saying after the game. Dubas became way too focused on appeasing to the old school people, and the forward group ended up being a no identity mess. He tried to win the way those people said you win when they played in the 90's. The positive is we didn't spend long term contracts on these guys, so Dubas has a chance to make the team the way it should be made based on good players.
Toronto media all star team is so accurate.