There's been a lot of talk about how we brought in a bunch of slow, aging players and many point that as the main problem with the team. However, if you look at them relative to the team, aren't they performing as expected?
Among forwards, when they were signed, we pegged Stamkos and Marchessault as 2nd liners here. Implying that they should be somewhere in the 3-6 range of forward scoring with the team. Currently they are tied for 3rd in forward scoring behind only Forsberg and O'Reilly. Really, exactly where they were expected to be.
Skjei was expected to be the second best defenseman on the team, either anchoring the second line or supporting Josi on the first line. And indeed, he is currently second in defense scoring, exactly where he was expected to be.
However, it's not their position of success relative to the team that stinks, it's the overall numbers that really stinks. Stamkos for example, for all of the talk about how old and slow and cooked he is, he still went over point-per-game each of the last three seasons with 104, 84 and 81 point seasons. Now he's on pace for 43. Did he somehow regress that horribly with the stroke of a pen? or is Brunette just not getting the most out of this roster?
I know which answer seems more likely.