My takeaway with this Knights team is they simply don't want success badly enough. Last year, the team worked hard and sacrificed the body shift after shift. This year, pretty much the whole season but it was especially apparent down the playoff stretch, that effort, compete and fight is just not there. They're still talented and well coached enough to make noise in the playoffs, maybe not win it all, but it looks like nothing changed since Marchessault called out the locker room in the final few games of the season saying exactly that: the team doesn't want wins enough.
It's like the majority of the lineup is satisfied with the one cup they won and the rest is just gravy. Eichel, Karlsson, Thompson, and Marchessault are the only ones who seem to put in the effort consistently. Thompson got his name engraved on the cup but he rode the press box with injury last year so for him it obviously makes sense and Eichel spent all that time in Buffalo not getting playoff games.
Like of course, credit to the Stars for working hard and earning these last two wins, but the disappointment on my end comes from watching a team that can perform better lacking any observable will to do so.
As it is I'm not thrilled about the cap maneuvering this year. Might be within the rules but it feels cheap. So I don't really care if we get eliminated to be honest. But if they're gonna do all that shit, the least they can do is actually play like any of the maneuvering mattered.
how many teams have great drafting when you remove their two best years from the previous decade?
Anaheim? I'm too tired to think of other examples.