It's funny to me that the roster is inarguably improved over last year, our franchise player is still playing out of his mind, and yet the team is byballaaccounts, playing worse.
All the excuses we relied on last year to say Hak wasn't as bad as we thought are gone. At what point do you just have to accept that Hakstol is a major factor in the poor performance of this team?
The team is playing bad, but I'm not sure the roster is improved, overall.
Goalies are worse, which is hard to believe, but true. Worst in the league by a wide margin.
Ghost is visibly slower than last year, I doubt that is due to coaching. There's something wrong with him.
Manning was replaced by Folin, wash. Folin is better defensively, a cipher on offense.
The big upgrade was JVR, but he doesn't fit anywhere. What they needed was a fast RW, not a slow LW.
Vorobyev turned out to be worse than Filppula.
Everyone else is the same, except Couts had a horrid first month due to the MCL
Provorov has regressed, but really no one else.
Patrick may not be scoring as much as last year's second half, but shows great defensive instincts and drive.
Lindblom has been up and down, but he couldn't score to save his life last year.
Sanheim is playing better this year. As is Simmonds.
The PK has finally turned around, but the PP is dreadful, and that's supposed to be Knob's domain.
They overachieved last year, underachieving this year.
I'd say even with a good coach, they're a 95 point team +/- 5 (i.e. 100 if things go right, 90 if things go wrong).
Which is why I don't think even Q can get them to the playoffs this year, they need to play at a 105+ pace now to make the playoffs, and I don't see that kind of talent right now.
