Echoes of another team 113 mi east of GF, namely the mighty Beavers, that also like to plug up the neutral zone & who had UND's number last year.
Just like his predecessor, DJ didn't make any in-game adjustments tonight after the 1st period in an attempt to change the tempo of the game. The team was clearly struggling, but no adjustments were made for the entire 60 minutes. Call a timeout or put the Sharpie to use & start drawing up some other plans. Do something.
It's guaranteed that other mediocre teams who don't have a lot of firepower will look at tape of tonight's game & will implement a similar strategy against UND. The onus is on DJ to find a solution to this nagging issue. If other teams have similar success like MN had tonight, it will mean that DJ & Smaby haven't successfully implemented an offensive scheme yet to deal with it.
Plus, not benching Strinden for a game or two sends the wrong message that crappy play will be tolerated. At this point, you'd think Klee couldn't do any worse. A good bet that he's more hungry & disciplined than Strinden currently is because he's desperate to crack the line-up. Benching an alt captain would definitely get every player's attention that there will be consequences for not playing at a high level.
So not huge red flags because it's very early in the year & DJ's body of work is too small with which to judge him. But the upcoming games against Clarkson, BSU & Mercyhurst (the NPI killers) will tell a story about whether DJ has left BB's old problems* behind or if they continue to haunt the team.
* lack of consequences for substandard play & an inability (or unwillingness) to make in-game adjustments