CREATIVE PROMPT / STORY MODE -

Slip McScruff is definitely trusting someone else to take bench duty. He needs someone else to be to blame if they win or lose. If they lose, he expects his team to behead the coach in some kind of shame ceremony. If they win, he expects the robots to behead the coach in some kind of shame revenge ceremony. You do not trust the robots or the hyper intelligent mice who are on the same side as the robots. If Slip was hyper intelligent, he thinks he would lie to trick his opponents into a death trap.

It's likely that all of the sci-fi novels are actually true and thinking machines were outlawed for a reason. It's possible that the alien Slip is replacing on the ice is actually a mentat because he won't stop asking question upon question, which is further justification about leaving the coaching to him. As far as team dynamic, Slip's crazy ravings about spice and prime projections has strained communication on the ice, but he's a stay at home defender so the team can function fine around him.