My personal opinion is to start with changing Burke. He's simply too strong a personality and IMO, his personality influences Treliving's decisions. Most people tend to say that he has autonomy to do what he wants, but have you ever worked in a corporation where that's 100% true? You have to buy into the philosophy from above, so if your strategy doesn't align with that philosophy, you can't do what you fully want to. While I was a Burke believer in the past, I've come to see that his brand of hockey is outdated, with more of a need for the speed/skill combo. If you can get guys who can do that and play defence, perfect. But this insistence on guys like Brouwer who are neither here or there or keeping Stewart, Versteeg or Lazar on the roster shows a love for "truculence" at any cost (skill or hockey sense). That philosophy has to change only from the top, and as long as that keeps happening, we will likely see the same results. I do think for the most part Treliving has shown himself to be a smart negotiator, so I have no problem keeping him on. But there are definitely changes needed to get him to bring in more speed and hockey sense for this team to get better. Replace those guys above with the odd smart vet (Justin Williams) and give a few roster spots to recent draft picks to sink or swim. I don't believe in scrapping the team totally and going young, but you gotta give those guys time to develop. Get a coach too, who can work with young guys and push them, not baby. Anyway, it's frustrating to see this recently.
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