Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
As terrific of a job as Treliving has done, he didn’t address the biggest issue this team had last season. The 3rd and 4th line depth just isn’t at the quality required to be a top end team. Alternate players are being slotted in and they’re still not positively affecting play. They’re playing at a level even worse then last season and it’s costing this team close games.
By now, based on last season’s production, these guys should have provided roughly 3 to 4 goals at the very least. That could equate to maybe a win or 2 or an OT loss. Regardless, a better record than what we have now.
The biggest problem I’m seeing is that the bottom lines aren’t fast enough nor do they play a heavy enough game. They’re not quick enough to get to loose pucks, not strong enough to win the majority of the puck battles, not skilled enough to string together enough plays to create dangerous scoring chances and they’re not heavy enough to cycle the puck effectively in the offensive zone. They’re basically just meh. Very average at everything and good at nothing.
I think the philosophy needs to change, they need to focus on skill and speed rather than whatever they’re looking for because players they’ve identified like Brouwer, Lazar, Hamonic, Stone and etc just don’t look like game changers at all. If there’s one thing Treliving and his team need to focus on, it’s that. Find players who can make a difference at this level from top to bottom. That’s the type of depth we need to become an elite team.
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Bit of a chicken or egg question. Has Treliving failed to address the secondary scoring or are the players in those roles failing to produce? You could look at it either/both ways depending on which player but it's clearly been Treliving's concern for two straight offseasons as evidenced by his "can't sleep at night because of worrying about scoring" comments in both Bob McKenzie interviews.