Loved your earlier post so that gives me the right to disagree on this one. EVERY team in the playoffs has holes. In a free agency era with a cap you can't afford to plug all the holes (especially in an expansion year -- losing Schmitty hurt a lot). You can't put consistent OT losses on "the way the franchise was built" or at least I don't. All of that is 20-20 hindsight. We've had teams that were "built for the playoffs" like last year - out in the 2nd round. Teams that overachieved like this one -- looking like out in the first round. You can't account for that with the organization other than by second-guessing based on the results.
I don't know if I really believe in "curses" but we do get more than our share of bad luck and unfortunate bounces. And, of course, a lot of missed opportunities and mistakes at key moments. But we do it with different players year after year and I find it hard to imagine our coaches are telling Burakovsky to take an O-zone penalty with 5 minutes left up a goal in game 1. Or telling Wilson to garner more roughing penalties than one can imagine and then miss an open net in OT.
It's different guys all the time but I don't buy the "no built to win" crap. The Pens do it with guys they bring up with no pedigree whatsoever who shine in the playoffs. They are just such better hockey people than we are? I don't see it.
It's one of two things, the front office is beyond incompetent, or not only is winning the Cup is not the priority, but they are taking "having a chance" to the bank.
By "having a chance" (aka The Rock The Red Kool Aid), they can build a team of "popular players" that markets to the naive demographic and creates/continues an illusion that "popularity is good, stats are great, so we should win", I mean who cares about defenseman or 200ft players? Particularly when l in the video games the fringe demographic plays have they can just turn those off. Then when exposed theu have a marketing opportunity for a new excuse and catch phrase.
Its actually a pretty good business move. . .for the WNBA, a DIII softball team,. or if your REALLY slick, (and have great lawyers), it's an excellent stock market strategy. . . Oh, and its also good to start a religious cult with.
But, it has no place as a long term strategy in a mans sport. At some point, you have to start fighting your opponents/competitors and not just marketing to your own. This is why Teddys, Dickless, and BetaMakes masculinity needs to be directly challenged.
Or. . . The Cup IS the priority, and Monumental is always doing what ever it takes it win multiple Cups. All of there decisions are made by hockey experts based on massive analytics and stratagems to give multiple advantages to the teams in the conference and division, watch contracts offered to keep us in a favorable situation for upcoming years . . . and this works everywhere, but with us. . . (?)
We just don't have "luck", wer'e cursed, and listen Mr Patrick and Mr McClellanwill tell us why we haven't won because after all they "know hockey" and want a Cup more than us ( . . . )
At this point, th mulligans, leeway, and learning curve are out. . . They're either conman or grossly incompetent and its time they get challenged to that.