And the Maurice haters blamed Maurice for everything, every line adjustment, every defense pairing, even playing Helly too much in a short 56 game season. I can't imagine the credit another head coach would be getting right now if they were playing the Oilers and after 2 games McJesus and Dri didn't have 1 single point, not 1 .
There were a ton of adjustments made that led to where we are now.
Many of them could have been part of the plan if we are prepared to give the coach any credit.
This D group were not ready to play zone D earlier in the season - they were already struggled with an easier M2M system.
Zone is tough in that you need to be quick and confident in adjusting to your assignment - shifting off from player to player is not easy and with the D compliment we had, would likely turn into a tangled mess out there.
Our D, in general, are better players at this point - including guys like JoMo, Poolman, and Stanley - they are in a better position to play zone at this point and that appears to be the case. I'd give coaching in general, the props that are due - assuming Mo worked with his D coach through the season.
Some will assume Mo fell into the result and he gets no credit - others will assume there was a plan in play from the beginning.
You can argue either side until you are blue in the face but you don't really know how this all came to be.
Sometimes you need to adapt to systems by working with the players that actually have to execute that system - calling out for a change is easy - understanding the underlying points (personnel, ability, or the stage a player is in their growth) - that's not nearly as easy unless you are part of the coaching squad.