Intend to lose?
No.
Fell prey to the law of untended consequences?
You bet.
I think that they believed their own hype. As others have said they did not address various positions either prior to the season or at trade deadline. I also have issue with Stefanski. I think he reached the level of his incompetence. He was flavor of the month as an OC. Once he became HC different things were required of him. Imo, the biggest issue was last year. Baker was injured. Baker flat out should not have played. Even if the medical staff cleared him Stefanski should have made the call not to play him. They weren’t going anywhere anyway. Now, Baker’s shortcomings were not the issue. The issue was Stefanski’s ability and limitations.
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