I'm listening to this and I'm hearing a ton of shit I've been saying for a couple of seasons...
One part I want to call out - not having slow players but playing slow and the Reilly Smith and the grocery analogy is bang on for what I have called out as a massive coaching issue - players playing slower because of the way they are being coached and not having the right direction..
But of course dipshits like Yohe, Rossi, Dejan, Molinari, etc will blame the players.
I don't like the back and forth Shirey goes with Sullivan. He wants to blame him but then doesn't want to blame him and he talks about usage and Acciari as a C all season etc and it's like mate, Dubas gets these blokes and Sullivan still uses the same types. Hinostroza was barely used. Gruden is finally back and being used, but Harkins isn't forced upon him, he's using him as a choice and same for Carter on the RW. They can blame Dubas for most of this all they want but in the end Sullivan is deciding on who plays.
They bring up Sprong which ironically Sullivan didn't even like - Sprong likes to shoot and on the Pens it seemed like anytime he did do what he was drafted for, he was punished for it. So ironic that they mention Sprong but completely ignore why that still wouldn't work on the Pens. The system being trash and then the way he wants them to play isn't a fit.
It's funny they also nail why Sullivan needs to go but idiotically can't figure it out and don't want to blame him - Sullivan is all about taking what the game gives you, whereas the issue is they wait for the other team to react and then go from there. What made the powerplay good and the system fun in 2015-2017 was they reacted quickly and dictated tempo and play. They made the PK react to them, they made the teams struggle to adjust to the quick bang bang defense to neutral zone to offensive zone transition.
Graves to me is just as much a victim as Smith. Both are players that thrived in a defined role that played quick and up tempo. On the Pens it's pretending to be methodical without a method.