These things are interconnected though ... you can't expect 2 players (primarily 1 really) to do everything for the team and be balls to the wall 110% for a full 82-game season and fairly lengthy playoff stretches when they don't get much help from their management.
The management teams for this franchise do a whole lot of f*** all and as such haven't built as good of rosters as they should have.
They win a trade like once every 5 years maybe, draft someone good who actually makes a difference in wins/losses like once every 7-10 years, 10 years into McDavid's tenure and they still can't find a really reliable starting goalie the team can lean on during tough times. We're making due with a starter who in all honesty is probably not much if at all better than the AHL call up (Pickard) who is his back up.
Largely basically all but 2 of the impact players on the roster are because of lottery balls or picks in the top 10.
You can't expect everything to go 100% right when the management side of the franchise is not pulling their weight. They should have brought a lot more to the table to build a more complete roster so that it could weather stretches where McDavid doesn't have it going.
Oh I'm not expecting anything from anyone on this team until mid November. Sure they're going to have their games here and there. Especially those Dallas games where they "visually" look good and accomplish sweet sweet f*** all. but I don't expect any of them to really "Put their shit together" until they feel the necessity amount of guilt/urgency or whatever it is.
I'm not blaming or expecting anything from McDavid more than anyone else. He's just another casualty/victim of whatever it is that makes them play like a giant pile of dogshit early in seasons and playoff series.
And I'm definitely not giving management a pass. I'm saying we have to wait to evaluate this team until they get their collective shit together. And that doesn't happen until Mid November. Maybe it doesn't happen until the coach gets shit canned. They weren't that good in 2021-2022 until Tippet got canned after 44 games.
I'm hoping it's just second pre season.
If I'm Knoblauch though I'd be a bit nervous. They have demonstrated in the past with two coaches that they tend to get comfortable really quick. And they may not pull the trigger on Knoblauch in time to recover IF this is the case with the team.
I just don't believe for a minute that McDavid, Draisitl, RNH, Hyman can't piss a drop to start the season because Emberson or Stetcher replaced Ceci and Denault. Or that Skinner and Arvidson can't make up for the loss of Mcleod, Foegle, etc.
This is just who they are. I don't believe they're thinking.. f*** this I'm not trying until November. I think they don't know how to bring their required focus and level of play without a level of guilt and urgency.
I will say this though. McDavis is at ppg pace, Draisitl on 40g pace. But they have not looked good to me. Not with knowing what they're capable of and quite honestly paid for. They're just good enough that their poor games result in points. Hyman and RNH just aren't that good.