Any team is only as good as the sum of its parts and unfortunately we appear to have quite a few parts that are either broken, too old or don't fit together.
Ward - To say it appears he is struggling to adapt from AHL to NHL coaching is an understatement. Getting 20 somethings to play a certain way is one thing, getting buy in from vets is another. One thing I am struggling to understand is his inabilty to know the best lines to put together to give us the best chance to win. It is not like he has just walked in off the street, although results would say differently, so how can he not see what is best. Is he really giving the palyers too much rope, is he letting them decide where they want to play, because we have seen that giving this group too much say in the running of things does not go well.
Gio - The man has worked his away across different leagues around the world, earned an NHL contract and put it all on the line for this team, earning awards along the way, and for that he deserves a lot of respect but I wonder if he has hit the 'can't be bothered age'? Kind of like when you go out clubbing and drinking every night when you are younger but eventually you hit the 'been there,done that' and can no longer be bothered to go out every night. Same with Gio, fought hard but can't be bothered with the rough and tumble every game, is this why he told Chucky to calm it down? He's the captain and how hard he pushes the team pushes, maybe not as much as he used to or we need the team to?
Overall team mood - There just feels like there is something off with the team, whether that is a combination of wards coaching, the need for a players only meeting after 6(?) Games, which made very little difference, the shuffling of lines, the Bennett did he/didn't he what line is he on tonight, chucky told to calm it down and not play his game (do we know if this actually happened), is there a power struggle bewteen groups of players? Who knows but something is not right.
If this isn't sorted out quickly then this is truly done.
Sorry for the long post
