Without getting into a big preamble and essay, it's safe to say most Habs fans are disappointed by the state of the 24-25 season in terms of both results and performances. Gallagher, Suzuki, and Hutson are the only players really impressing - and they're all smart players who make good decisions on the ice. Newhook (4pts in 20gp, -11), Dach (8pts in 20gp, -15), Dvorak (7pts in 20gp, -7), and Armia (9pts in 20gp, -8) are all leaned on plenty but have not stepped up.
I think it's time for MSL and the organization to put their money where their mouths are and start to reward effort before reputation. This means making an example bad efforts in order to dispel the low-effort, losing culture we're fomenting. We're in the thick of a rebuild and have deadweight on the roster and don't have sufficient talent, yes, and we're de facto tanking, yes, which means there is nothing more to lose by losing games.
I don't like benching players mid-game, it hurts the whole team and embarrasses a player, but scratching those who don't put the right effort in a game is a reward for another player who wants to play and build his career.
After the Vegas game, it's time to scratch Kirby Dach and give him a mental hard reset. They can couch it to the media with the legitimate excuse that he's coming back from a major injury yada yada yada.
Yeah Sullivan Sucks, but Dubas needs to be talked about too...
