Quoting: Db1899
Trotz was one of the worst coaches in the league last season. He’s a compiler , not a great coach. 1 Stanley cup in 20+ years of coaching.
He was working with poo most years in Nashville and made them competitive. He didn't have a great team to work with last year either.
This team just isn't good enough. You can be mad at the coach all you want, but until you give him a better group of forwards, they won't be good enough.
Their dcore is masterfully crafted and they have a very good goalie tandem. But they are getting killed by the Bailey and Palmieri contracts. That Palmieri contract was a head scratcher to me the moment it signed. Also I like Pageau. But he really should be making 3.5m-4m a year.
They have no super stars on forward. They have a very good star in Barzal, Nelson is a good player, borderline star and then things fall off a cliff fast. They need 1 super star and one more star in my mind.
the only reason why I am not giving Barzal super star status is because he doesn't score much. Career high of 22 is just not enough. But he is super talented, so no disrespect to him.
Anyways, my point being... you can change the coach all you want. The best coaches in the history of the world couldn't lead this team to a cup. They aren't good enough. But they do have some great pieces to build around.