Quoting: MitchMarnerElite
I think the players quit on the coach & they quit on themselves. Sully has coached similar constructed teams to success like that 2016 team that was all speed & puck possession. Maybe you just can’t win like that anymore. Maybe you need to combine it with that sandpaper grit that wears other teams down. I agree with you, there’s not enough commitment away from the puck. There’s no checking, the guys are not hustling to win races, win battles to retrieve the puck. When they do have it there’s not enough urgency & the structure is just non existent. The thing is, they have guys that are capable of going into the tight areas to forecheck & fight for the puck. Tanev, ZAR, Rust, Zucker & McCann are all examples. They just don’t want it. There’s not enough heart on this team. So much for thinking they were elite, it’s the same mess as Toronto.
it's not 2016. The rest of the league was so slow when they won those cups. The emphasis on speed and teams getting younger has been a real thing. Teams play a much faster game today because of those cup runs.
They can't just get by with that anymore. They played a different system this year as compared to last year. But they have not been able to readjust as other teams adjusted to them.
WSH is another team in the same boat. The penguins showed how to beat WSH earlier this year. They started going down hill as other teams copied it.
The penguins seem not to be able to change the way they play. You can't just rely on one system of play. You have to mix it up and tailor it to an opponent. They don't do that.
1/2 their problems lie in the systems they use. The zone defense doesn't work in todays game like it use to. You have to pressure more. At the same time, they have been unable to deal with teams playing them man on man and pressuring. They also have no answer to their failed dump ins.
Did you watch that game today? That power play. Every power play that puck is dumped in and eventually sent right back down the other end. 4-5 times a power play wasting the majority of the power play.
They have no adjustment to it, they put no effort in skating the puck in. It's dump and chase with 1 defense man back waiting for it to clear it right back out.
If they can't adjust their game plan they are never going to win anything. Talent will only get you so far.