You know Guilt Trip, the thing that has really come home to me this year is the complacency of the org. I always thought that was a cheap criticism, but it sure looks valid now.
The team was obviously adrift back in October, November at the latest. The response? Radio silence from the GM. An utter lack of creativity from the coach. No accountability demanded of anyone.
The remaining games this season are really important. A new coach, even an interim one, could install a new playstyle. They could look at Marlies as I suggested above.
This is almost 25% of the season. Pissing it away, treading water, is criminal.
I think a bunch of it has to do with their circumstances
I'm not happy with what they've done so don't take it the wrong way.
Little cap space.
League changes for playoff cap and retention making it even tougher to trade
At the start of the season, they had one of the weakest collection of draft picks in the league.
Their collection of prospects is ranked near the bottom of the league.
You have to give something to get something.
That something often has to come from the system to add assets to the NHL roster to make it stronger
Then, when you look at them in Oct-Nov and ask yourself "is this a Cup contender or close to it"? Your answer is probably "no way!!" so why bother?
Then they're in that deer in the headlights place of whether to buy or sell so MLSE gets their playoff revenue.
MLSE board may have tied Trelivings hands at some point.
Marlies are in 4th place in their division. Take too much away from them and they could miss the playoffs.
Where they don't get much sympathy from me is they're the ones who got the team into this mess that factored into the above.
The fear I have is they fool themselves into thinking they can retool and win a Cup with Matthews-Nylander. I really doubt that is possible with their old D
