I've been thinking along the same lines - I think everyone was just exhausted from playing "Sutter Hockey", and getting by Dallas was both an emotional and physical battle.
Remember that when Sutter was fired from LA, the talk was that players like Dustin Brown were pissed off about Darryl's demands - win every puck battle, get to every loose puck first, make every hit, be everywhere, see everything, win win win.
And it's like... these are people, not Wolverine. The don't regenerate the platinum skeleton overnight.
And I feel like the team just didn't have any juice left after Dallas. Grind grind grind, 60 games, 70 games, 80 games... grind more for playoff... and ... yeah, you're spent. Markstrom didn't look right against Edmonton. Coming off a tough mental battle (seeing only so many shots) against Dallas... and a big game 7 win. Yeah there's nothin left.
I don't know what the future looks like. Some nice pieces locked in, but our true "superstar" talent is zero, I'm sorry. Gaudreau and Tkachuk are nice players, but we've seen that they aren't true superstar calibre. They aren't playoff gamebreakers. In fact on that last goal of the season Gaudreau just refuses, flat out declines to check a guy. Horrible. So I get it if people think the team is dead without these guys (quite true I suppose) and yet I also don't think that there's anything left to give. This wasn't a learning experience for Gaudreau - he's no rookie here. This is him. So do we go forward with that? Why? Cuz there's no better option is why.
It's a decent team, we can expect a good season next year. That's what this was, a good season. Did they win it all? Nah. And not close, honestly. That's okay, only one team can win it all.
Thinking this team is a true cup contender will lead fans to disappointment I think. They aren't, and they showed it here, squeaking past a not great Dallas and frankly getting crushed by an also not great Oilers team.
I'm fine with it. I like the young D core and see guys like Mangiapane as the up and comers, I thought Backlund and Tanev put it all out there. You can't ask more.
Future? More of the same, for better or worse. Middling draft pick, middling success.
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