Well lets see.
I believe MC is the far and away better team. I don't believe they are more (raw) talented. I believe they are far more discplined, they have more heart, and have a much higher hockey IQ.
I actually have come to believe UNH's problem is the regular season not the playoffs... strange but true.
See this teams 1st line has been picking up bad habits since the year turned 2011. It started with DeSimone tha Sislo. I think they both came back from break thinking they were better than they are. They stopped working as hard, stopped back checking (yes they did that at one time this year), stopped moving their feet, started taking bad penalties, etc. That eventually affect Thompson as you see his decline later than the other two. If I can see it from my seat they coaches should be able to see it too.
What have the coaches done. Those 3 started basically every game together. Those three get the lions share of ice time and PP time. They are rewarded for there play. Could have started to fix the problem by starting lines that were working, then cutting playing time and if it didn't get through a healthy scratch. Words work on some issue but if they aren't being consitently corrected on the ice, ice time gets the point across.
Then their is depth. How many shifts did the 4th line get Friday - more than 5? If by March you don't have confidence in your forth line to play a share of the shifts you haven't done your development job all year. They should be able to go out there and skate hard, mentally prepared not to be a total liability. But if you are focused on winning lots of regular season games you short shift those guys and they never develop. Without that depth you have a gassed team in the 3rd against solid competition, which also happened Friday.
During the regular season you try stuff out. Develop a bag of tricks. Different power play looks, different forechecks, different ways of breaking out of zone, methods of beating a trap etc. Well UNH is predictable they forecheck the same, power play the same, break out the same, panic and throw the puck around the boards the same, they can't dump and chase effectively the same, therefore the results are the same.
The power play is linked to one coach, Borek, although Umile should have fixed it by now. When Borek arrived the power play got much worse. The UNH power play problem is simple. It is always the same, 5 guys standing around the outside. If there is a guy screening a goalie - a raity at best - they don't shoot the puck.
Years and years of the same leads to the one constant... the coach. So UNH is what it is, Umile will leave when he wants and not before. Maybe we will get lucky with a new assistant that has different perspective but i don't think so. I am no longer shocked or disappointed, it just is, on the other hand at least we aren't living ground hog day of the mid 80's over and over. Before you wish for a change, look at those years, it could be much worse. Just realize what UNH now is, and hope Umile leaves before the cupboard is bare like it was after Holt. The disappointment happens to people who let it happen.
