I really don't know what changed. He seemed destined to be the next captain after Wheeler, and was supposedly one of those players with a Crosby-like determination to improve.
Right up until we actually made it far in the playoffs once.
I hope nobody takes this as a defence of Scheifele because it certainly isn’t meant to be that. However, I think Scheifele started checking out from this team because he became disillusioned with the systems and the inability to adapt to different styles of play. That inability to adapt became abundantly clear in the conference final although it was there before that as well. It just wasn’t as apparent.
This coaching staff over the last half dozen years have been blessed with highly skilled players that were badly misused. Paul Maurice tried to mould them into what he wanted instead of letting them play to their strengths. I honestly believe that Scheifele saw that and progressively began to give up on any chance of winning here. When you think about it that’s not very different from what we’ve all been saying for the last several years as well.
That being said, he is paid millions of dollars to compete at 100% every night and he hasn’t done that for a very long time. I think Mark Scheifele is a sad example of taking a high character guy and absolutely ruining him. A big part of that of course is the fact that he was never corrected when it was necessary.
Human nature being what it is, people can slack off a tiny bit without consequences, which over the long term becomes incredibly noticeable.
There’s a lot of blame to go around in this sad situation.
Players don’t give 100%, coaches don’t enforce consequences and management doesn’t correct coaching issues when they arise.
Personally I am very glad that it’s all coming crashing down because that gives me hope for next year.
Don’t give them any ideas……
