No one was complaining about Hartley last season when we made the playoffs. He's coaching a core of boys, who just made the playoffs and heads were to big coming into this season. No one is handing them anything, we aren't that talented, if they want to win, they need to work for it.
Fact is, young teams will have inconsistencies in their game. Hartley deserves criticism for sure, but he's a good coach and I fully think we will be in the hunt for a playoff spot next season (if we get a goalie). Keep Hartley, if we miss next season, then find a replacement. Treliving and him need to get on the same page though.
a goalie.....2 more top 6 wingers(or upgrades).
fact is, next year is going to be another down year for us. so unless we go out and get a Price/Holtby caliber goalie and add a winger like Okposo, we are still going to be lower end of the conference.
Aaheim - constant contender
SJ - are older but might still have 1 good year left in them
L.A. are L.A. consistent playoff contenders/cup contenders, although they do have a couple things to work on, but with the core they have, better than us.
Vancouver - are similar to where we were a few years ago with Iggy and Jaybo and Kipper. they will probably be lower end similar to us.
Edmonton - who knows whats going to happen. but if they move out a forward and bring in some legit D, they might surprise people and not be the constant basement dwellers...or they might be who knows with them?
Arizona - good young core that did well early on in the season. wild card there.
so that top 3 of Anaheim, LA and SJ are really going to be hard pressed to beat out for a divisional playoff spot.
then there's the central. let's not even touch it shall we?
Dallas, Minny, Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis, are all much, much better than we are. So no hoping for a wild card spot. just not going to happen with those teams, next season anyways.
fact is we are still mid rebuild. so blaming everything on Hartley when we are still finding pieces for our roster before we become contenders, is a bit much.
and we HAVE to temper our expectations. we had 1 good, multiple player career years, where other teams struggled mightily and even then we just barely snuck into the playoffs, and had a favorable round 1 matchup against Vancouver.
We still have many, many holes to fill, so no I firmly do not believe we'll be hunt for a playoff spot next season. we're going to be around the same area IMO.