Boucher needed to go, players quit responding to him. You can blame the goaltending and the defense all you want (and our veteran defensemen are average at best), but truth be told our defensive system sucks, and has sucked. We give up the blue line too easy, we chase from side to side, and with the exception of the young guys don't hit or clear the crease. Watch a game, players take multiple swipes at pucks in the crease without getting knocked on their ass. I don't care how good the goaltender is, eventually your gonna give up goals. The young guys I referred to are the so called "Syracuse seven", they broke/set numerous records in the AHL last year, and there's more coming so the future looks bright, just not so much this year. Prior to Jeff Vinik (owner) and Yzerman we had no farm system, our scouting was poor at best. The previous regime (may they burn in hell) gutted the team and got nothing in return but cash in their pockets. And before I get trolled, I say "we" as a lifelong Tampa resident not because I think I'm part of the team. I do know some of the inside guys, our announcers, and the reason we have a team, Phil Esposito, so I'm not speaking out of my ass.
