The blame used to be on Chevy for not bringing in more skilled players for the bottom six. Much of the angst in the pre-season was about how Hendricks was going to get killed in the bottom six. Now we have a bottom six with some of the HF Jets darlings (Petan, Dano), and they are making Thorbs look like Bergeron, so now the attention has shifted to Maurice.
I'm a Maurice skeptic (have been for some time), and I'm part of the crew that has thought that the main problem has been the lack of enough skilled personnel, but I think we might need to rethink our hypotheses.
My main hypothesis is that Maurice is more effective at coaching straight-line players without creativity, than he is creative players. I have been concerned that he would not be effective in coaching this sort of team.
However, I think there's another thing we might consider. Perhaps this sort of talent needs to play a different style to be effective in the NHL, and it would be a struggle for any coach to get them to play that way. These days, my main concern is with the construction of the defense, rather than the forwards. My concern is that the Jets have too many D that like to "lug" the puck, and not enough that are adept at moving the puck quickly. Myers is the perfect example. He is very good at carrying the puck, but how does that help a team with super-skilled forwards? They just wait for him to get through the neutral zone, at which time he needs to dump the puck because everyone is standing still waiting for him. Trouba has the same tendency. Buff is more inclined to move the puck, but prefers the long "stretch" pass or "lob" to more crisp and quick passes to catch his forwards on the move. Even Enstrom tends to be very careful with the puck, so his specialty is protecting the puck and going D-to-D. The only D on the roster that appear to be inclined to quick puck movement are Morrissey and Poolman. I think Trouba can develop that way. I doubt that Myers can.