Ragamuffin Gunner
Lost in the Flood
Common theme here for me, and my issue with Shero's off-season, is this concept of "keeping the core together". If we were talking about Shero's stubborn patience with his core group, I'd be on board. My issue with Shero is his patience extends to the complimentary pieces.
Not being trigger happy on a deal to dump a core player like a Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Letang, etc. is fine. I wouldn't want him to go full Holmgren in that regard. However, his love affair for keeping around guys like Adams, Glass, Dupuis, Fleury, etc., and continually sticking with vets like Eaton, is my issue with him. He seems incapable of shaking up the team, period, not just the core.
IMO, the successful teams are the ones who keep their talented core in place, but who properly tweak their complimentary pieces when things aren't working. They move players like Dupuis out so that they can bring in (or in this case, simply try and in-house prospect like Bennett) someone to play that spot. They move out fringe players like Adams or Glass and either find a "hungrier" replacement in free agency, or look to another in-house replacement in the system.
Look at the Blackhawks' two Cup winning teams. The core players (Kane, Toews, Keith, Sharp, Seabrook) all remain, but a lot of the complimentary pieces have been changed. Heck, Niemi won them a Cup, but that didn't stop the Blackhawks from trying to upgrade that position. Meanwhile, Fleury's entrenched in a Pens uniform no matter how bad his playoff performances are.
So I really don't mind Shero's patience when it comes to the core of the team. Where I'm starting to get annoyed with him is his patience for even complimentary pieces that could be upgraded, but instead are kept around because they're familiar.
this is what I was talking about. It's great to keep your core together as long as your core is Sid, Geno, Neal and Letang. It's not great if your core is those guys and MAF, Adams, Dupuis, Eaton, Orpik (maybe), and to a lesser extent Kunitz. You can't have a 10 player core.
Not to mention holding onto and then extending a coach who has been out coached in 4 straight POs.