And that didn't change with the same personnel though. That changed when character guys came in like Maroon, Shattenkirk, Schenn, Bogosian and so on. Both Maroon and Shattenkirk had interviews where they essentially said what you're saying, they felt sorry for themselves and its time to turn it around. They did, but they did it with new faces. This group does not have that leadership. Jeannot, Glendening, Ace, Chaffee, Merela, ABB, Sheary, Watson, Lilleberg, CDH, etc are not the leaders on this team. The same ones that got bounced in 2019 have now been deferred as the leaders and look at where we are.
Nobody can honestly say Rutta, Maroon, Bogosian, Shattenkirk, Schenn, McDonagh (except him), were world beaters. They fit because they had experience and weren't redundant pieces. The loss of depth and the school bus line is exactly why we are where we are. We lost every bit of depth we could afford and the dice we rolled on all the replacements have been rather inferior. Raddysh is the only guy I'd say looks like Shattenkirk but in the locker room, likely isn't. We lost loads of experience and winning mentalities when we moved on/lost all these guys.
It took time for Cooper to get them near the top and this team could maybe do it, but it lacks that championship pedigree. The core that won those cups is down to like four forwards, three defenseman, and Vasy. It's not the same team. Personnel is the issue.