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Even though the end result may be the same, if I'm the coach I'd much prefer having a group of guys who are less talented, but are always busting their butts, compared to a team that relies on a few talented "stars" who only try hard when a good opportunity to score presents itself. Right now it seems we have a strange combination of both types, and it may be the worst of all worlds.
I hear ya but I think most of these guys are what they are, Guentzel generally had a good rep for developing D and he couldn't get much out of them a year ago (and as we remember Lucia seemingly tried to hide his D), now it's a new coach and it's the same deal. Other than one nice hip check Zuhlsdorf is just comically bad at denying zone entries and he's not very good at doing anything with the puck when he gets it, not to mention he does nothing offensively. I think in that first Badger game last weekend he had the puck at his own blue line and threw it to the other team in the neutral zone, a guy got behind him, and they got a 3 on 1. As much deserved grief as Sadek gets his partner is a far bigger problem. We all remember Phillips doing snow angels trying to play D that one game, he has a ton of head scratcher moments and the coaches clearly don't think he does much on offense seeing as he got kicked off the main PP in favor of going with 5 fwds (side note: apparently we have a top 5 PP after last weekend). The upperclassmen like Sadek and Nanne are ok at denying zone entries and a bit more steady on D but they throw the puck around a lot and hit a lot of shin pads in the offensive zone. Brinkmann is super young and shows flashes of competency carrying the puck into the zone and helping the offense transition and isn't terribly noticeable on D (good) but the last I checked he had one of the worst shot differentials on the team (not sure if that's changed more recently). And then after that you have a hodgepodge of Rossini and the other guys who don't play all that much or do anything to separate themselves from the pack.
I agree, but unless the team finishes the season really strong I'm afraid "the buzz" experienced on Saturday is unlikely to repeat itself the rest of the way. For many longtime fans, this up-and-(mostly)down season has been a bitter pill to swallow.
I just took a look at my section (19) for tonight, and the map is showing only one seat that's available.
I didn't realize the middle sections were season ticket holders only. For whatever reason Section 19 tends to not have as many no-shows as other middle sections. Our row in particular is almost always full.