I agree with you on Trouba.
We actually aren't even seeing the tantrums or the big hits anymore. That's kinda the point.
Nothing to spark the team. Nothing even performative to demonstrate any shred of giving a shit about turning this around. Not only do they suck at hockey, they're all checked out.
I agree that they're checked out as a group. I mentioned that earlier. I think the writing is on the wall that the window is shutting and the core is parting.
But they're not failing because they're checked out, they're checked out because they've already failed.
The worst 5v5 habits that the biggest offenders have were all always there. I don't care what Zibanejad did when he was shooting over 20%. People pointed it out, nobody wanted to listen, and now it's "what happened to Zibanejad?"
We probably should have committed to riding out a longer rebuild, or if we wanted to accelerate it, make aggressive moves for legit players. Instead, we locked up a core that was never going to beat Stanley Cup caliber teams in a series, and said "this is what we're going into battle with." Inevitable result.
At the end of the day, that's it. That's what happened.
People can say mockingly "well I guess the whole team just sucks!!!" and like, nobody said the
whole team, but yeah, their 1C and 3 of their top 4 defenseman all suck ass. That might as well be the whole team.
You've been saying that for years yet all the team has done is won. Now they actually suck and its very obviously due to the locker room culture and soft play. You've always had all the answers, so what would be your plan to turn the team around?
All they've done is won and you beat the locker room culture drum the entire time. You can't have that both ways.
My plan is simple.
Zibanejad, Lindgren, Trouba, Miller. Huge roles, all garbge.
Remove the garbage from huge roles.
Granted, that's easier said than done, and the execution requires steps that I can't give you, because I don't have the numbers of the GM's, but that's basically the title of the book.
Hockey really isn't as complex as we try to make it.