At no point did I say you let the players decide on the system, I said you build a system that helps your team succeed. I don't see how you figure that means letting the players decide the system. It means you build to your teams strength. Ok so before I continue, this next part is hypothetical which means not real, ok? Let's say Kyrou is a rookie and you put him on the 4th line with Blais and Torpo, do you think Kyrou would have any hope of succeeding? of course not. You're forcing a round peg into a square hole. So it looks like Kyrou sucks right, so you trade him to Detroit for a 2nd round pick, they then put him on the top line and he scores 30 goals and 40 assists. Maybe we should have tried to play to his strength and not make him a 4th line checker? Do you get it yet? You can't just decide a system and then think all your players can play that system. Sure you can only bring in new players thatr CAN play it but our existing players have to be considered.
That's why coaches, good coaches, while they have a Plan, they'll tweak it and adjust and adapt when necessary. You never know when your GM is going to call you and say X is being traded and we're getting Y and Z. The team has to have a core identity and strengths it needs or trains to aspire to. So saying what you have, what system do we run, because I don't see one. I see no ethic, I see very little team integrity, I mean doesn't the Note mean a damn thing for some of these folks? Doesn't the front office enforce the ethic of fighting for the logo? Does anyone?
I see our leadership upstairs basically looking at stats on a page and saying this team is good enough, we should be able to make the playoffs and do things, but that takes a plan and I don't see someone like Bannister having a plan, at least I haven't seen one from him yet. When we talk about Hitch, we always mention the system of coaching and the type of ethic the players had. When we talk about Berube and Bannister, much as I love Berube, but neither seems to have a real plan, it's more ebb and flow, work towards that players strengths on a team that needs more strong players.
And that fault lies with Army.
Every piece of this team is of his making or at worst, his approving, from coaching all the way down. He holds nearly unlimited power and if he was as smart and forward-thinking as some here lead us to believe, he would have options. This team on paper looks amazing but when you see the final product you realize The Boss spends all his time looking at statistics on a printed page than outside the window of his office at the players playing the game.
Like Captain Picard said once in paraphrase, you can do everything right but still lose, I'd expect what's left to look more like a team that's out to contend over what I see now.
