No, the core issue is that Woody was riding off McDavid and Draisaitl playing their best hockey ever during the second half of last year. McDavid and Draisaitl have been far more quiet during this turnaround, especially during the winning streak, and we're seeing bit players produce in ways they never did under Woody-Manson.
Every part of this is provably false.
McDavid played 21:05/game during the 18-2-1 run to end last season, he's playing 21:50 under Knoblauch and that number is going up - not down. McDavid plays more as the team needs him to play more, and that has not changed. Knoblauch has gone to McDavid at 22+ minutes 6 times in the last three weeks, and twice at ~26 minutes.
Also, depth scoring is down, not up. They had more than 60 goals from their bottom six forwards going into the playoffs last year, right now they pace to 40. Their top-six is down, too. If you're going to give Knoblauch credit for McLeod and Foegele, you also have to give him demerits for the PP, RNH and McDavid.
The difference with this year's team is defence. They are top-5 in shot suppression, scoring chances allowed and high-danger chances allowed. But here's the funny thing: They were also at the top of the league in all those same things when they were 2-9-1. The difference is they shot 6% and they had a save percentage of .870. I'm not exaggerating when I say a potato could coach them out of that: They could not have a coach at all and that would have changed. No team will ever shoot 6% or have a save percentage of .870. It was the kind of artificial low that only happens in extreme, small samples.
After all that, the thesis that this is a coaching issue doesn't account for the fact that this has
HAPPENED. IN. THREE. STRAIGHT. SEASONS! Why will nobody who disagrees with me acknowledge this point and attempt to explain it?
What was 2-11-2 in December 2021-January 2022? What was back-to-back slumps of 3-7 & 4-8 in November of 2022 and December of 2022? How, if the coach was
such a problem did they make the playoffs with home-ice advantage for both Tippett and Woodcroft? How did they pull 91 out of a possible 120 points in the 60 games outside of their 22-23 collapse? It's actually a long running trade mark of the McDavid era: They also had a horrible run in December 2019 that they snapped out of when they called up Kailer Yamamoto, and they were 3-6 to start the North Division season before a bunch of Ottawa games saved the day.
Key reset points. Christmas break, All-Star break, coaching changes. Mental resets. It's the equivalent of turning a computer off and on again. Those bad runs were always artificial and mental. They get the yips. Knoblauch may be an improvement on Woodcroft, I like lots of things he's done. But the coaching change was not the difference between 2-9-1 and 24-6. Knoblauch said that in different words himself last week.
