What makes this team so bad? Clearly it must not be a coaching staff that thinks 13.25 % season long is an acceptable track record for special teams!
I believe it's a three-part problem:
1. The power play is not providing the production needed to get the extra wins. We all know that the PP can "win games". They aren't getting those wins due to the PP. I think there's a two part problem to that: 1. Player ego - believing that "we can go out and rely on skill to score because we are Sid, Geno, Letang, Karlsson, and Jake n' Bake". They can no longer do that because individually, they no longer possess that skill level. 2. Coaching. There is no structure, system, goal, anything to their powerplay. It's literally just go out and score. If they IS anything of that sort, it's SOOOO BAD that it should be a fireable offense.
2. The inconsistent goaltending. They are either good enough to steal game or bad enough to lose them. Rarely do we get the in-between. Both Jarry and Neds have stolen games and singlehandedly lost games for this team this year. One of my knocks on Jarry this year has been, while his stats say he's been decent, there's an element of "untimely goals against". Part of being a good goalie is making the right saves at the right time. There have been times where he's let up a goal in crucial moments of the game and they lose. At the end of the day, the goalie's job is to stop the puck. They are the last line of defense. That's their sole purpose and they've let the team down multiple times in singular instances this year.
3. They do not play a 60 minute game. They do not possess a roster good enough to play 40 and win. This team needs to play balls out for 60 min with a certain level of discipline to win. They don't get that every single game. They do not have a roster that has enough impact players to get that effort. There is no "next man up" situation. Rarely can we say "geez, Sid had a bad game but thank the lord Lars Eller was there to help carry the team". I will say this happens when you have an aged out core. 60min per game, 82 games per season is a lot to ask of this core at their age.
A lot of this falls on Sullivan. He should have been fired long ago. It's a bleeding, infected wound at this point and healing cannot happen until the dead, leaking limb is lopped off.
Some of this is on Dubas. Only about half of the moves he made have worked out. Some aren't doing well, but I believe Sullivan is more the culprit than Dubas, for example, Reilly Smith. I think that was a tremendous trade by Dubas. I think the overall poor performance that we now see is a symptom of Sullivan and not because Reilly Smith suddenly sucks at hockey and Dubas made a bad trade. I don't know exactly how much of Sullivan's continued existence with this team is on Dubas but he's not blameless.
The team is just flat out stale. I do think they are better than they are or rather, capable of more than they've shown. But they aren't getting anywhere as is.
It's the Ponikarovsky effect of getting points just by virtue of being the only half-competent guy on a dumpster team.
