Even if we don't make the playoffs, I'm glad Hitch is here. This team has needed to know how to play the right way for a long time now (all the way back to the hall/ebs era). Hitch is here to purge all the lazy fly-bys, irresponsible play, lack of FULL effort on defence, backcheck, forecheck, and puck battles etc. he will instill consistent effort and attention to details and will let you know if you even slip up once. He'll bring that higher standard and ok is not good enough.
I will preface this by saying Connor is amazing and he will always be a massive net positive for any team but too long now the golden boys of this team (hall, ebs, even connor and drai) have gotten a bit of a free pass in terms of cheating for offence and at times a bit of slack on defensive side of things etc etc (especially someone like hall). It started in the hall days when coaches gave him a longer leash and basically allowed him to cheat for offence, coast, fly by and play irresponsibly because he was our "star" player and collected a lot of points. He was not held to the same standard the coach wanted for other players in terms of responsible play and that trickle down and hurts the entire roster. And that mindset lingered in Todd's tenure. Hitch will not play favorites like that. If you don't play the right way he will let you know immediately.
Hitch is the kind of coach that, even if Connor got three points last night and was great and vital to the win, will not hesitate to point out the two bad fly bys Connor made in the game and the missed coverage on one of the goals and get him to correct it.
Details and habits matter if you want to be a winning team. Consistently winning. You have to play the right way as much as possible and it's not good enough to pop 2-3 points. the details matter for the FULL 60 minutes. I love Hitch's high standards. Even some of the posters here have gotten too soft on the golden boys at times. Saying things like "well hall was the only one scoring and creating chances so he's allowed to do fly bys and be a poor defensive player". NO, if you want to be a good consistent winning team EVERYONE needs to be held to the high standards of playing the right way all the time.
As great as Connor is, Hitch will hopefully make him better. I have a feeling Drai will become a dam good winning player under Hitch's tutelage.
The only wild card is how long the players will buy in for and how long they can stand Hitch and his high high standards because it is tough sledding to play hitch's way.