That's what happens with a young team learning its way.
Last year, the team was 8-10-2 through the first 20 games, then 4-12-4 over the next 20. 12-22-6 through 40 games for 30 points. Then the last 42 games of the year, the team was 18-20-4, the last 32 games at 14-14-4. As players get familiar with the system, the team improves. Keep in mind, that also occurred after making several trades and gutting some of our better players from the roster, which didn't happen this year. Last year, we had four true rookies play at least 55 games (if we wanted to lump DeAngelo and Dauphin together for games played, that would be 5 rookies receiving at least 55 games). This year, we have one true rookie with over 55 games played.
Because of the additional veteran stability added, I'd say that it should be expected to improve YOY over the second half of the season. I think the team is sticking with the system and starting to get rewarded.
Just as much of it could be getting rid of players that maybe didn't fit. Yes, Duclair has talent, but when watching the team now and when Duclair was on, it seems like everyone is far more on the same page. There were more than a few times when it looked like Duclair would cherry-pick closer to center line or the opposition's blue line, and that simple act may actually force less effectiveness when attacking. Panik has fit in much better and developed some touch with Keller. Reider may have been one of those players that Tocchet was referring to when he mentioned how some players would fall back into a past system when things weren't working, and that is an exact reason why the team may have looked discombobulated early in the season.
We look better and I think that all of these things have their place in showing why there has been so much improvement. We are a little older on a lot of fronts and have far more stabilizing players in the lineup. We look like we are competing for each other more. I doubt the roster undergoes an extreme makeover in the offseason. The only thing that still is a little troublesome is we still look a little polarized - going from chaos at times to well-organized and highly functioning. That may be simply a part of the system, b/c Pittsburgh had several moments in their playoff runs where they looked elite, and then two trips down the ice later, completely lacking.