Talent is nice, but it takes more than talent to win in the playoffs. Maybe, we are overestimating the talent level on this team. Regular season and playoffs are 2 different animals. Look at our forwards.
Marleau, Brown, Hyman not exactly talented.
Johnsson and Kapanen are unproven. To be honest Kapanen was underwhelming this playoff. Seems like a straight ahead type player with no real vision. Johnsson showed some flashes, but was largely inconsistent
Nylander has talent, but is beyond lazy.
Thats 6 of the top 9 forwards right there.
Tavares/Marner did a nice job defensively, but contributed next to nothing on offence.
Matthews had a good series, no complaints there.
Our D - I can see 3 of them for sure back (Reilly/Muzzin/Dermott) and the rest is up in the air
Reilly/Muzzin - very good
Dermott - young and looked terrible last night, some growing to do
Gardiner - was a disaster last night again, he was playing hurt, but still
Zaitsev - fairly solid, but at $4.5/year, you can get that for half the price
Hainsey- old and needs to go
All in all, this team has alot of flaws and question marks. They are not a finished product yet. Its on Dubas to make this roster better, but with so much money tied up in (Matthews/Tavares/Nylander and soon Marner), that is going to be a task. Nylander and Marleau need to go for this to happen.
The roster was set a month before the trade deadline. The power play has been anemic since November. All those underwhelming playoff performers kept their regular shifts if not gaining more ice time based on no merit. No line juggling to get the most out of our top offensive guys when it came to closing out the series or trying to claw back late in several games. The PK was adjusted only in the final elimination game of the series after 6 previous displays of absolute ineffectiveness. These are all coaching issues.