No way to know for sure how much it would translate, but part of the rationale for my original question comes from the NFL. I've heard players and analysts argue that as they increase the number of regular season games the quality of play decreases towards the end of the season due to cumulative wear and tear from all the hitting (and that's with up to 6 days off between games to recover.)
@Boom Boom Apathy, I don't see "fatigue" as I understand it in the setting of marathon training as being as much an issue, so on that it we seem to agree.
I think we've hashed and re-hashed the "fatigue", and discussions about how muscles react, recovery time, etc.. so I'll stay away from that. I have a few comments and these will be my last on this topic as we can respectfully disagree.
EDIT: If this prior comment came across poorly, I didn't mean it that way. I'm not upset or anything like that, just that we have a tendency to beat topics to death on this board (and I acknowledge I'm guilty of this) so that's why it's my last comments on this.
I get it in the NFL. Linemen, for instance are hit or hitting virtually every play of every game. There's not a play where they don't get hit, sometimes for the entirety of the play (unlike hockey). The level of physicality in the NFL is much more, for some positions, than hockey. These guys get bumps, bruises, strains, broken bones, etc....so to me, when they talk about the wear and tear, that's what I understood them to be talking about. A bad bruise can take weeks to heel. A strain/sprain even longer. When this conversation initially started, I acknowledged that wear and tear (injuries) can add up so wasn't disputing that.
I am specifically disagreeing with the notion that the Canes "system" of working hard was causing them to become exhausted/worn out more-so than other teams by season's end. I can't reconcile that the Canes top players are playing less minutes (ES TOI, ES TOI/GP, Total TOI, Total TOI/GP) and wearing out more or are subject to more wear and tear from physical play than other team's top players. That part doesn't hold water to me. I'll leave it at that.
Personally, the Canes being eliminated from the playoffs has nothing to do with being "worn out" and more to do with the factors that have been discussed
1) The Canes lack high end talent (particularly finishing talent) vs. the teams that eliminated us.
2) The Canes have had the inferior goalie in every series we lost and this year it was our 2nd/3rd string. While the goalie isn't responsible for skaters play, we do know there is a mental aspect to it (remember how much better the Canes skaters performed in front of Ward vs. Darling?)
3) On paper, until this year, the Canes really had the inferior team. Boston was a better team both years and even though Canes had a better record than Tampa (in the weird divisions), Tampa was the better team. Even this year, then Ranger's were only 6 points and 3 RW behind Carolina so it wasn't like it was a huge gap (particularly when goalies were considered).
4) The Canes mantra is to outwork the other team. In the playoffs, that becomes infinitely more difficult because every team works hard and thus can negate any advantage.
5) Our special teams have been inferior to our opponents. Some of that could be coaching, but my money is on #1 and #2 above.
Now, since this is the "Trade" thread, what it means to me is the Canes do need to find more finishing talent. Secondly, someone with a little more physical presence would help balance out the lines as well. There was only 1 real physical player (Svech) in our top 6, and he was inconstant.