Monty mentioned that the dump ins and icings seemed to be habit with this team, meaning he has decided it is better to work with how they play rather than perhaps risk losing a few games trying to reinforce his system. Coaching what you have is generally viewed as better than trying to mold the players you have to a game that doesn't fit them, no?
Shapiro also mentioned the difficulty of overcoming the "culture of losing" that this club has developed over the last ten years. True enough.
That said, Lindy managed it for a year at least - both in winning and playing up tempo, offensive hockey. Then, he fell back. I wonder what Lindy's system with our current, improved D corps might look like? And, Sean mentioned what all of us wonder about - is it possible to create a winning culture with a roster (leadership wise) of players who have the losing culture so ingrained? Sad to say, it might be looking like that.
It might require a total blow up, assuming some NTC will be moved. Even so, in third place despite a road heavy schedule means TG and JN will think we are close enough to good with tweaks, and it probably won't happen. I doubt we could sell tickets if we were Buffalo bad for a few years, even if the long run would be better. Also, there would be no guarantees that we would win the cup after a rebuild. There never are.
So, I expect TG and JN will acquire a scoring winger at the TDL, at the expense of the future, because, there are enough playoff Cinderella stories to justify getting in with a lower seed.