I had mixed feelings about bringing back BB. On 1 hand, he seemed to get the most out of the players which is why I was in favor of bringing him back. On the other hand, one could tell the team D was being propped up by good netminding (even management was saying systems needed to change), and now 10 games in and it looks like BB has lost the room - and it really isn't that surprising: the Aqua stink lingers heavily.
Not a damn thing we can do about a POS child-beating owner, but obviously the team needs a shakeup; both on and off ice. If that bastard is going to meddle though, it won't make a difference. sigh
Bruce is showing his oldschool biases where certain players can make bad mistakes or show poor effort yet never miss a shift, meanwhile other players get benched or scratched for less. You have Demko playing like one of the worst goalies in the league, and instead of putting Martin in (who has looked solid) to give the team a chance while Demko figures out his shit, BB rides the cold goalie... Too stubborn in his support of certain players, BB is making bad judgement calls and icing (given their current level of play) inferior lineups with less of a chance to win. Bench Garland, but allow Pearson/Miller to make dumb mistakes and not skate hard? Scratching Burroughs when his compete level has been among the best of the group? Scratch Rathbone after winning with him in the lineup? Bruce is as "off his game" as any of the players. Thank God it's only a 1 year extension, because it seems that he has aged out, with his dinosaur approach.
Assistant coaches really need to go. Special teams are absolute crap. The PP is 1-dimensional (only effective when the other team doesn't pressure them, giving them time and space), and the PK is way too passive and blows coverage consistently - resulting in quick and easy goals. (our PP would LOVE to play against our PK). Other teams score on our PK in a matter of seconds, while we seem more concerned with establishing possession before passing it around on the perimeter, looking for the same 3-4 predictable set-plays. Urgency just isn't there, and don't even get me started about their defensive effort while on the PP or in OT... it's like they only care about 1 end of the ice - and even that is situational depending on the score and how much time is left in the game.
Defensively, nothing has changed. Until this team collectively decides to take pride in playing a 200 foot game, it's going nowhere. Same old, same old: never pressuring the zone entries (and no difference here whether you skate like Hughes or Schenn), it's just: back-up into the default passive/coverage-blowing defensive system. Way too many opposing players are left unmolested within 10-15 feet of our net. So friggen easy to play against.
The Miller deal looks awful, he has lost a serious step. Guy skates in sand now (you would think HE was the one that had the baby in the offseason, not his wife), and his extension doesn't even kick in until next year... would have been better to let him walk for nothing (although we would probably have signed Klingberg to a longterm deal with the capspace - which isn't any better). JR said we'd be competitive in 2 years - so why the **** would they spend to the cap now, anyway? (Painted themselves in a corner by over-spending in UFA) Just spent a 2nd/5th/Myrenberg to compete now, when we are not even in their own given timeframe for competing. WTF? More like Jim Rudder(less)ford.
The on ice product, and the moves made by management... Yikes. What the hell are they doing, throwing more prospects and picks out the window? The players talked a big game in the offseason, about how they wouldn't allow a start like last year - then they go out and have a worse start (worst in the league)... so management rewards them by "bolstering" the teams' depth? Instead of saving up to get solid players (or just drafting young potentials), we are spending young assets on floundering age-gappers to fill the bottom of the lineup - when they could have simply got similar-level players from waivers. Death by a thousand papercuts.
They've made a bad cap situation worse, doubled down on a losing roster by wasting more picks, and after promising changes would be made, they virtually just committed to the same Benning-made roster.
I've seen enough; this management group is bumbling and directionless.
/rant
