I absolutely hate comparing it to another season, so I won't.
The disappointments for me...
- Our Captain playing lazy for stretches, not really taking initiative with the whole team meeting thing that was long over due and still wasn't done.
- The team forcing another Assistant Coach to Sullivan, this time it really hasn't worked, Rick was a better fit, they then got a passive puppet to be his replacement with like zero coaching experience.
- The lack of accountability. You can't talk the talk and then never walk the walk. You can't say a player needs to play less and in different situations and then literally never follow up with it. Like at all.
- A lot of mental errors by the coaching staff, one of the more consistent things this team has done is being inconsistent.
- The coaching staff making some rather bizarre choices with the line-up, the lack of ingenuity with the line-up, the stubbornness, and some other things. But in general, this team has a smart head coach that knows how to win, but he's been literally making it harder for himself by not even owning up to things he says he wants to do or should do and then he makes choices based on ego, if not ego then what else could it be? Logic would be absent in some of the choices.
- Some of the players just not playing their best, in other cases, some players not being in the right position on this team to succeed and then in most cases, a good mix of both.
To me, this playoffs is either going to be the situation that re-unites this team that needs to play united and hasn't for more than a few periods at a time during the season, or things come to a head, someone on the coaching staff is fired and it won't be Sullivan. Someone from the core is getting moved out and it won't be Sid, Geno, Phil, or Horny out of the elder statesmen and it definitely won't be Guentzel (hint, the hair or the help I've fallen and I can't seem to stop falling...).
This team is infuriating to watch this season, the moment you think they've turned a corner, they completely shit the bed, then they leave you with just enough of a decent effort to make you hope for a complete game all over again the next day and well, repeat the pattern. Then they'll give you a magnificent game or two in a row and then it's some average shit out of them again.
Yes the grind is hard, yes it's been two short off seasons, but if you aren't prepared for greatness or striving for it, then what are you doing playing this sport?