Personally, the reason for defending Draisaitl so adamantly here is the insinuation that this bad play amounts to his attitude being representative of what’s wrong with the team.
It’s not.
Lack of talent is.
Furthermore, we’ve seen this before.
Recently.
It leads to moving an extremely talented player out in the name of “character”, further eroding the talent available.
People will respond with “Nobody’s saying trade him”.
I would answer with “Yet”.
We’ve seen it too many times.
No hold on there. I don't think that's exactly what's being said. At least by me (and granted I didn't read 1000 pages of this post).
But you seem to be saying here and in your tongue-in-cheek post about orange slices... that talent beats all.
And that's just absolutely false. Look at Vegas. SCF with a bunch of NHL level cast offs. They may be there again this year.
Look at our 2006 team. A bunch of average guys with a uber-alpha-HOF Dman. You know what made that team great? They always supported each other on the ice and gave 100% of their talent each shift. Fully engaged.
Fast forward and we've seen a decade of guys who start off giving 100% of their talent, but then after several seasons of losing, frustration sets in and we see 100% some nights, heck some shifts... and 75% on other shifts.
It's natural, its understandable, but it isn't team play. We sag, we sulk, we are easily frustrated, we check out mentally from the game. And before we know it, we're down two goals instead of one. And the cascade to the bottom begins.
It comes down yes, to having requisite talent, and we don't have a HOF Dman, but it wasn't Pronger's skill that made him a good leader... it was the expectation (and confidence) he instilled in others that allowed them to dig deeper and continue to give 100% even after a bad shift.
Our team was in a playoff spot a month ago... we could have been adding reinforcements at the deadline. And we've soiled the sheets because we've learned more about how to lose than how to win.
Drai's not a cause of our "culture", the guy plays the game (typically) the right way... and for that same reason he's also right up there with our biggest hopes to
lead the change of our culture. But when you see a play like that, for me... I worry that he might become a victim of it.