The thing that people don't take into account is that Markstrom was absolutely huge for the culture of this team. Every post game he'd talk about how proud he was that the boys would risk blocking shots for him and you can tell guys were bending over backwards to compete for him. It created a brotherhood (and as a goalie if a team will rally around a G then that's a very good sign). He was a vital piece of unity to the squad and he made sure everybody would pay their dues to make the team successful. You toss that away and we are back to finding things to motivate for.
Culture is absolutely huge for hockey teams and most people just don't realize that. It's why teams like Boston are always successful. It's a culture thing.