Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
What I'd like to see is a complete sea change.
This team has built itself around "Sandpaper" for as far back as I can remember. They've simply never had an offensively oriented coach or identity. I don't recall who pre-dated Keenan but that has to be it. The Hull/Oates years. From Keenan on we've built our squads around physicality and defensive responsibility.
Now I'm not saying we're going to go steal Jon Cooper from TB, but who's the next Jon Cooper? And I'm not saying we're as talented as those Lightning squads setting the world on fire every night - but they ALWAYS seemed to get career years out of guys they brought in.
We have some really talented offensive players on the roster. Let's see what happens if we lean into them a bit. Let's see what we can do if we try to go uptempo and open up the ice to create opportunities for the young forwards. Let's see if we can start developing the Fabbri's of the roster before we end up trading them for nothing because they won't backcheck (i.e. Kyrou).
Before I convince myself that some of these guys aren't talented, I want to see what happens when we try to get the most out of what they do well rather than harp on the areas they struggle. I just see a guy like Nikita Kucherov and think "Man, would Berube have EVER gotten that kind of performance from him?" I mean the answer is clearly no, right? Does anyone think he would've? Brayden Point is a 50 goal scorer out of the 3rd round - any chance in the WORLD we get him playing like that here? Point doesn't hit. He's not a defensive stalwart. He's also not a more talented player than Kyrou - why can't we find a guy that turns Kyrou into Point?
Could it implode spectacularly? Oh god yes. It very well may. But we've never tried it - why not now? Other teams have and won with it. Why not the Blues?
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Yeah, for years it was like the Chiefs and Blues were sister organizations of mediocrity, hiding behind "rich history" mantras and outdated strategies... you'd just as well assume Carl Peterson was running both organizations.