was I haven't seen one article that questioned the players' effort this year or said they didn't care or that they lacked passion. Journalists don't generally go there. Now, if he takes issue with the fact that we've said this team is playing its worst hockey in 25 years, and that it's underachieving, and is making the same mistakes over and over again ... well, fine, because we are, but those are more tangible results. I actually wanted to follow-up with him and ask him who he was referring to, but I assume it's mostly social media related.
I know I've said it on a couple of occasions this season. I don't doubt that they care and want to get it turned around--more than I do, clearly...at the end of the day I'm a fan--but there have been some games this season where the effort hasn't been there. It hasn't been their biggest problem by any stretch of the imagination (and it hasn't been every game they've lost), but there have been games that they've completely mailed in.
What's the old saying? Work beats talent unless talent works. Well they've got talent. And they've gotten beat (and beat DOWN) by teams that are much, much less talented. It's not always bad bounces or just not being in synch with each other.
Most games I don't think it's been an issue. I said awhile back that you can lose games and that's fine. We've had a winning team for 25 years. You're bound to have a bad season. As long as the effort's there, I can deal with poor play. But I also don't think every player on that team could look you in the eye and say they've given their all every game. Effort isn't in the top 3 problems that they've had, but I also think it has creeped up from time to time.
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