Sutter is a great coach but I think Erick Estrada nailed it with "Sometimes I get the feeling he would rather lose his way than win if it meant doing things things differently."
The stubborness is hurting the team right now.
-Markstrom has struggled. There is no argument there. Vladar should be playing more.
-System wise he needs to try to inject some creativity. His comments around "we don't have skill, so we have to play for volume" has to be so draining if you're a player. Let these guys take some risks.
-Reliance on veterans. This one hurts in two ways. He refuses to shorten the bench when down late in games (Lucic/Lewis getting ice in the final 3 minutes of a game), and plays them too many minutes. And refuses to play Pelletier or Phillips due to age / size / stubborness when they are proving at the AHL level that they deserve a chance to help at the NHL level.
I still think there is a good team here - but Sutter needs to be open to making some adjustments and actually let the team take a bit more risk offensively and bring up some youthful exuberance to help out.
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