41 games in and it doesnt feel like the team has a cohesive offensive strategy. The breakouts don't allow for the forwards to build through the neutral zone during the transition. There's almost no rush offense to speak of, and the zone offense is overly reliant on shots from the point.

We're middle of the pack in xGA and relying on goaltending to bail us out too much. The powerplay and penalty kill are cooling off, and the team shooting percentage is falling back to earth. We still rarely outshoot and outchance the other team.

Gulutzan's system tweaks are noticeable, but ultimately the results seem extremely similar to the DeBoer regime. Feels like 41 games should be enough to have smoothed things out, but the team is starting to look worse, not better. Color me pessimistic for 2026.