To me the majority of this stuff is systems. There really isn't any personnel reason why this roster should be having so much trouble and being outshot so consistently. The dead weight (Parros, Murray, BOuillion) is gone, the issue of a top 4 with 3 LH shots is gone, Galchenyuk has appeared to take a step forward, Parenteau has been hugely better than Briere. There really isn't any reason why this roster should be needing to have these comebacks every game and getting out possessed by Calgary.
IMO the roster issue isn't really with DD. I think everyone wants a better #1C than Desharnais, but I think it's pretty reasonable to say that we're better off with DD at C and Galchenyuk on the wing. Problem becomes that if we move Galchenyuk to C we're better long term at C but then Pacioretty becomes the only top 6 LW. I think the marginal upgrade of Galchenyuk over DD at center doesn't offset the downgrade of Sekac, Bournival, Prust, or Bourque at LW over Galchenyuk. I really just have a hard time believing DD out and another center in changes things drastically, DD isn't an anchor.
The roster is essentially Therrien proof. Every player on the roster is a competent posession player (save for Moen but even then he's not an anchor and is a capable utility guy). Yet still, we see Moen and Bourque over Sekac and Bournival. I don't like being that guy that micromanages the coach's decisions in the bottom 6, but it's just impossible to justify from my perspective. Both Sekac and Bournival are easily better than Moen, and in all likelihood are better than Bourque. Yet we still see head scratching decisions like Weise in the top 6 and Eller scratched.
I guess to me it just doesn't pass the sniff test that the roster should be having such difficulty competing. I just can't buy an argument that Price, Subban, Pacioretty, Plekanec, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Parenteau, Markov, Eller, etc. aren't a good enough core to be competitive. I certainly can't buy an argument that their true talent Fenwick close is in the 47% range.
