I think this post and your reply to Zahm

make valid points.

There are issues, both real, imagined, or whispered, that will make it unlikely Notre Dame lands multiple first round picks in any recruiting class, and players who will win Art Ross trophies or be game changing, top blueliners in the NHL. Our best chances will always be with teams like the 2018 team or the ones we saw from 2006-2009. Deep, experienced, and among the most fundamentally sound teams in the NCAA. I don't lament the lack of 40 goal scorers anymore because at the end of the day we're not getting them, but I also believe we are getting players who can help the team succeed on a high level.

It wasn't really a talent level that cost us the 2018 title game, and I believe the same thing about how we got blown off the ice in losses to Denver and Massachusetts in 2017 and 2019. We certainly had the talent to score more than zero goals against MSU in this year's NCAA 2nd round. Our problems in winning that final game or those final 2 or three games of the year lately have been our inability to adjust to what the other team is doing. You can win by either having such a disparity in talent that your talent can dictate the outcome (provided you do the work, we all know work beats talent when talent doesn't work) or by outplanning the other team and responding better to what THEY do. I think the fix has to come from there. Players and coaches simply need to do a better job game planning and adjusting when things get really tough.