In an interview with Robert Lehner, he stated the biggest reason why the Isles has such a bounce back season was that Trotz brought accountability to the entire team.
I did not see this in any way from Maurice this year...except with the numerous demotions to young players...not Wheeler and Scheifele.
Exactly.
Maurice is way too ”nice” and scared of his star/veteran players. The way he handles them almost shows that he looks at WPG roster on paper, sees an overly stacked team and now he has no balls to say anything to the star players because he wants to be there so badly.
He is afraid he gets ”eicheled”.
The coach always has to come first. And be the highest in the hierarchy. That’s how it is in Toronto for example, because Babcock was brought there on a huge contract before these star players - they better listen to him.
Unfortunately, many times coaches switch places and the teams stay the same. I don’t think anything is going to change in Buffalo or Edmonton either because those couple star players own the locker room and basically run the team. It’s a real common issue in the NHL - thankfully not as bad as in the NBA.