A large portion of the blame for that falls on the shoulders of their coach.
You see, as the highest-paid bench boss in hockey, Mike Babcock is held to a standard that other coaches who lack his reputation simply are not. Babcock’s gargantuan salary and inflated resume dictate that he is to ice a contending team year after year. He’s also expected to manage his bench with any semblance of competency. And, perhaps most importantly, Babcock is expected above all else to play his best (read: friggin’ superstar) players in the moments when the stakes are at their highest.