Mike Johnson

I think...

Everything about it has felt harder, not connected, holes in games, whack-a-mole, you try to fix a goal, you get another goal, you try to fix a defenseman, you're changing coaches, you're doing a lot of different things trying to get this team to play the way that everyone sort of assumed that they would be able to find at some point.

Even if we give them a pass, I think a lot of people did for 40 games because of the two consecutive finals and the fatigue and maybe the Olympics.

But at some point, the assumption, they'll figure it out because they've been really good.

They'll be really good again.

And now with dry saddle hurt, what are the chances of them being really good in the regular season?

Not.

It's not good.

I mean, they may scrap and get in.

They might win the division.

But I don't think they'll be playing at a tremendous Stanley Cup finalist caliber level.

And I guess they find it.

But the disconnect too fast.

When you hear...

Knobloch, and I get coaches speak, and I get players don't really offer candid assessments of their game a lot of the time because they are trying to keep it in-house or they're trying to not get too negative.

But to hear Knobloch talk about how they worked really hard, it was a really good game, that...

kind of rings untrue.

I think against Florida last night, they weren't up to the challenge.

They weren't ready to go and be physically engaged.

And you'd think if there was going to be a team in this situation to motivate Edmonton beyond the points, the team that beat you two years in a row, the team that sort of takes pot shots at your players, dry settled in the Olympics, whatever, that way you stir up a little something, a little sense of urgency, and maybe that's the word I'm looking for.