If all our core players are solid - and they are - then the team has only four possibilities to improve emotional engagement.
1) Find periphery players that can increase emotional engagement- they tried this and it failed. Glass, Bartowski, Stajan, Stewart. The only way to do this right is to find emotionally engaged young players that are internally developed - Lomberg, Hathaway, Foo. So there will be some of this, but probably not enough to tip the scales.
2) Bring in an undisputed leader who can bring a team to battle - too bad this is hard to do. The only UFA that could do this is Tavares.
3) Trade a core player - seems unlikely. All of the core players came to play this year.
4) Bring in a coach that improve emotional engagement either through his presence or via cultivating a playing style that improves engagement. This is what Sutter did in two ways - play hard and Sutter aura. This is what Keenan did - play hard and Keenan aura. This is what Hartley did - play fast and Hartley demeanor. This is the easiest way out. Gully seemingly did neither.
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