Quote:
Originally Posted by Iggy City
That's exactly all it takes. You could have the greatest and best tools in your toolbox but you won't be able to get the job done if you don't know how to use them/misuse them.
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Exactly. Just take a look at Johnston in Pittsburgh. They finish his first year with a below-average offense, barely squeak into the last wild card spot, and lose 4-1 in the first round. People are calling them a top-heavy team that's overly reliant on a few stars, the team isn't deep enough, etc. Eerily similar to GG's first season.
Then in his second year they dropped to 28th in scoring and were bouncing in and out of a wild card spot. Again, pretty reminiscent of the flames under GG.
Difference is, they fired him in December of year 2, hired Sullivan, changed their style of play, and won the next 2 cups. Now it looks ridiculous to question the quality of their core. Obviously there were a few trades in there, but they acquired Kessel before their scoring dropped to 28th in the league. After they replaced the coach they rebounded strongly enough to finish 3rd in scoring. If that's not evidence of the impact of the coach I don't know what is