Notes on an 0-3 start.

• At least they've been competitive in all three setbacks, two by one goal and another by two.
• The broken record of "We have to play a full 60 minutes" reared its ugly head yet again, and is more evident and clear cut this year than last.
• Terry Murray's departure has managed to expose just how unprepared and unintelligent the remainder of the coaching staff is.
• Having two key defensemen out of the lineup is not really an identifying factor in the three defeats, because an overall lag rather than defensive deficiency is responsible for the bad periods the team has played.
• In a reversal from decades of sports conventional wisdom, the upcoming Western part of the road trip might be a salve, because there are no "distractions" of the "home crowd," "wives" or "local media."
• Arron Asham, Glen Metropolit and Jared Ross are less than pale substitutes for R.J. Umberger, Jim Dowd and Sami Kapanen.
• Signing Andrew Alberts solves the backline problem from a numbers standpoint, but solves absolutely nothing from a talent and poise standpoint.