Hindsight is 20/20, but every passing day with Laviolette makes me angrier and angrier about Gallant. And it's not the attitude mix you're calling out. It's that he was so obviously the wrong coach for that team at that time, and it cost this franchise a lot. And look, maybe it was a necessary growing pain and half the team had a "Fuck you Jobu, I do this myself" moment (and damn, does it sure feel like that was the case for Panarin, Trocheck, Lafreniere, Braden Schneider, and a few others), but I can't shake how Gallant fucked up so badly with the kids and basic ass game management. I think there's an argument that a better coach manages to beat the Lightning in 2022 and possibly win the Cup. I also think there's an argument that a better coach outs the Devils in 5 last year and moves on to god knows what. And, I think there's a very strong argument that a better coach finds this version of Lafreniere, a better version of Kakko, of Chytil, of Miller, of Schneider - far sooner than it's taken.
Lafreniere has a bright, bright future in this league, and he plays a playoff-tested game. We should be very, very excited for what we've got here.