These are really good points. The defense sucks, I don't think for a total lack of talent, they just don't gel. Pairings have been all over the place, Gilmour isn't really a defenseman, Day and Crawley I think are questionable at this level, etc.
I think something is still wrong with Gettinger. Since he came back from the "upper body injury" he hasn't looked right. That hurts because he was becoming a dependable contributor. Brickley isn't worthless but he's definitely a downgrade over Schneider. You have someone like Leedahl who is a fine defensive performer but does literally nothing else, and he's now playing regularly. O'Donnell, I've always said, at least he tries. But that's it. I wish Lindqvist stuck it out but don't blame him for going home, where he is establishing himself as a star and getting more national team reps.
On top of that, Mazanec has been rough. Tokarski up and down. When Georgiev has been down there he has struggled.
It's just a bad situation across the board. I think on talent alone they're a fringe playoff team, but they're falling apart at the seams for a variety of reasons. Andersson disappearing obviously doesn't help, and with Lettieri up (and honestly, Lettieri I think is a 4A player), they're ****ed.
Your posts were rather balanced.
