No, this team has vastly underperformed relative to expectations, that is a fact, it shows how out of sync with reality you are if you refuse to acknowledge this.
No, that's not a fact. It's your opinion.
And what were those expectations? Because if they are
vastly higher than being one of the best teams in the league at this point, then they are completely unreasonable.
And just LMFAO @ your player analysis, Marner and Matthews are immediately removed because everyone knew they were gonna be superstars. The fact you include Kadri is not right either when Kadri put up 44 in 48 long before Babcock and since then he has had two good years and one meh year, hardly some massive step forward all things considered.
Kapanen was literally cast off by Babcock and he was playing Komarov on the first line and in the lineup over him, it took Komarov injuring himself for him to get into the lineup. The only player there that has taken a massive step forward that wasn't really obvious is Rielly, so basically 1/6 of your list.
So basically Babcock can't get a lot out of highly talented players because the ones we have only became just as good as we expected? Oh, and the least talented guy on the list didn't break through to become a high-end player until 22. Yeah, that's horrible development.
Why don't we talk about Brown, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Bozak and Komarov who declined under Babcock? Inb4 this magically becomes not his fault now.
Gardiner has had his best years under Babcock.
Brown hasn't had any other coach.
Bozak performed just as always.
Zaitsev was never good to begin with.
Komarov is old and has continued his decline under the best coach in the league, which hardly is Babcock's fault.
Oh, and the argument made was that Babcock was great with everybody but high-end talent. The names you mentioned are not that, except maybe Gardiner. I find it hilarious that you come here with your LMFAO and then use
Komarov of all people as an example of Babcock failing to get the most out of highly talented players.