Veteran Leadership and Grit
Apologies if this has been covered under another thread but I think we can point to these two intangibles as the reason for our struggles. When you look at the relative roster stability and incumbent coach, maybe those roster tweaks have left us with a void in these two areas.
It seems like we miss Engelland more than we thought we would. I believe he brought a real veteran calming influence to the room. Yes, his skills were in decline but giving him sheltered 3rd pair minutes didn’t hurt us. Couple that with the loss of Versteeg and that’s the loss of two veteran voices in a young dressing room. Yes, we’ve added solid character guys in Hamonic and Lazar (as well as the grizzled vet in Jagr) but I don’t see those guys having the demeanour that Engelland did.
In terms of grit, in addition to losing Engelland (who would hold opposing forwards accountable), we lost bouma and Chiasson who played tough hockey. We have also lost additional grit by playing Ferland higher up in the lineup where he is playing more of a scoring role instead of an energy role (where I think he is better suited). Playing Jagr/Lazar/Brouwer/Hamilton on the 4th line changes the dynamic as these are not crash and bang wingers who wear down the opposing D. Hathaway can be one of those guys but you need more than one on your team.
So while we debate the future of the coach or bemoan the lack of a true scoring rh shot in our top 6, the lack of vet leadership and a lineup lacking in grit might be what ails us the most right now. Yes, getting a top 6 rw allows Ferland to play down the lineup in a more physical role which may help, but until this happens, we need to see some leaders emerge and snap this team out of this funk.
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