This is the best team we've had in over twenty years and we are pissing it away. The time for trying is over.
It's sad that this is the best team we've had in twenty years. We've got the right ingredients to be sure (when we're healthy), but if those ingredients are misused or used too much you can wreck a perfectly good meal. That's what's happening right now.
This is a HORRIBLE trade. He traded FOR Kassian knowing full well he was a basket case. It shouldn't have been a surprise when he spiralled. If you want to talk about character, which MB loves to do, watch what happens when there is adversity.
Here's the character I've seen from the leadership of this team during the losing streak and regarding the Kassian situation.
MT. He reacted to the first signs of a problem poorly. We'll never know what happened in the room on Dec 2, when, without Price or Gallagher we dominated Washington and got "Priced" by Holtby... but the boyz started gripping their sticks tighter at that exact moment. With each successive injury he put more and more players into roles they weren't comfortable with and then stapled them to the bench when they failed... except one ... DD. He's since blamed goaltending for our woes ... Sorry MT, your inability to manage when not given the exact right pieces is the reason for our slide. Blaming goalies or players shows absolutely no character. Character would be standing in front of the cameras and saying that you need to find ways to solve our slide. Character would be going to the GM and saying, let's give Kassian a chance to show his character. MT is in ass covering mode right now.... complete lack of character.
MB. It's the coaches job to coach ... but the assets are MB's. Jared Tinordi is one of those assets and how MB has allowed MT to use that asset is deplorable. Either you think he's an NHL player or not. If you believe not ... trade him. We got 30 games in before Tinner got a game, that's brutal ... That kid BTW has some character ... didn't hear anything that resembled *****ing from him. Semin, again you knew what was coming when you got him ... I don't think he belongs here, but you never gave him a chance to show his character, you allowed MT to set him up for failure, which happened. Kassian ... see above ... MB you like to talk about character, you've failed for me in that regard with Kassian and Semin. Two NHL RW that could potentially help us right now. If the only reason they are gone is because you think they'll hurt the room ... imagine what type of message you've just sent to the room. I didn't hear you once say that you made a mistake in acquiring either of them. You laid the blame at their feet. You hold some of that blame too. You knew exactly what you were getting with both of them, yet did nothing to try an mitigate these eventual outcomes. At the very least you needed to allow Kassian the opportunity to show that he had character.
