Cap'n Clutch wrote:The issue is with the players but why aren't they performing? They wouldn't do it for Paddock nor for Murray when he stepped in for the final 20 games or so. They aren't performing for Hartsburg either. What's the answer? You can't fire the whole team.
One thing I absolutely will lay on Hartsburg is his proclamation of accountability. Where the Hell is it? Benching Schubert, McAmmond, Donovan and Bell at times through out the season just doesn't cut it IMO. I think some of these players are a little too comfortable. What we NEED Spezza and Heatley to win? Really? Look at our record. I'd rather lose with them learning something by being benched or scratched than lose with them floating out there.
Hartsburg has been giving the big-money players the velvet glove treatment all year.
One of the carrots a coach has is the #1 power-play unit. He could have used that as leverage to get something out of the players who weren't pulling their weight.
Instead, he keeps letting the "big guns" have those gravy minutes despite unsatisfactory production and work ethic. Then he goes on to put Mike Fisher on the point. This decision is what has me leaning away from viewing Hartsburg as a sympathetic victim.
He clearly is letting the Big 4, including Fisher, run the team.