I need clarification before I can answer this question - although right now I'm on board for the Amalric-ian "Kill (Fire) em all and let God sort em out."
The team was better last year. Most of the season, even when it wasn't as successful, the players looked like they understood what they were doing and played in concert.
Offseason Brandon Saad is moved for Artemi Panarin.
This year the team looks totally out of sorts. But Panarin, supremely skilled, seems to be the only piece on offense that's working.
Conclusion, Panarin is great and rest of team sucks, must get rid of as much of rest of team as possible and remake team in Panarin's image.
Can someone explain this to me? If you've been paying attention, I'm pretty open minded, or at least willing to be convinced. I'll admit that the notion that Panarin being great shakes doesn't do it for me in this on-the-road-to-being-wasted season. But if we can allow for a moment that the above narrative is true, then why has that become the case? Why is a group of guys who played so well together last year now such a hot mess?
I don't know the answer to your question. Here are a few observations:
Last years Jackets team did play well in stretches mainly early to middle of the season. They played with a great deal of intensity. When they played good teams with some high end talent, they could compete and win by out working them. As the season wore on and other teams began to match their intensity level, the lack of high end skill began to get exposed and their record slipped a bit.
Then came the playoffs and from my perspective they outworked the Pens by a little but the lack of skill made it difficult to convert their dangerous chances. When the Pens got a dangerous chance they were more likely to convert it and thus won the series pretty handily, yet 4 out of 5 games I thought the Jackets outworked them. We wanted to blame goaltending, but it looked to me like the Penguins shooting ability was just on another level. This was borne out by the save% of the other goalies they played against in last season's playoffs.
This season it seems a few things have happened:
They have not regularly out worked the competition.
They seem to have a lot more trouble with zone entries than last year, especially on the power play.
I don't know if it's skill level but just last night and on many nights when I compare offensive puck movement the Flyers seem to move the puck quickly and crisply in the offensive zone until they get a good crease and attack while two guys crashed the net looking for rebounds. The Jackets seemed to either cycle the puck on the boards or try skating the puck into the goal mouth through the opposing defense and then attempt a pretty well defended shot.
I've noticed this in a number of games this year, especially ones against Toronto, Tampa Bay, Boston and of course the last Pens game.
I just don't see the guns to compete with Stamkos, Tavares, Kane, Matthews, Laine, Giroux, Voracek, Kessel, Malkin, Tarasenko etc. much less Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid.
Best case I see them like the Blues teams of a few years ago built around Perron, Oshie, Backes, Steen, Bouwmeester, Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo : sound defense, a heavy team with some decent players and little high end offensive talent.